What is the quote on Shakesphere's tomb?

Answer 1

According to the Oxford Reference Online Quotation Dictionary, the quote, or also known as 'epitaph,' follows as thus:

Good friend, for Jesu's sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves mybones.

This short poem is inscribed on his grave which is located in the Holy Trinity Church at Stratford Upon Avon, England. As for the authorship of this particular epitaph, Shakespeare most likely wrote this himself.


"Epitaphs" Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. by Elizabeth Knowles. Oxford University Press Inc. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of Texas - Austin. 10 November 2009



I found this information at the Oxford Reference Onlinewhich is a subscription-based database that may be available at an academic library or a public library. If you don't have access to Oxford Reference Online, check in with your local public library because the reference services there will have additional sources that will certainly give you more information on Shakespeare and his life.


By:
Lela Ellison
Information Science Student
School of Information
University of Texas at Austin

Answer 2

The quote on Shakespeare's tomb at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon is:

"Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones."