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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker urges mourning the collective loss but not the departed honorable man.
In plain terms
Weep for those left behind, not for the hero who passed.
What can you take from it?
Focus on the living when honoring the dead.

Where it applies

  • funeral speech
  • memorial

Putting it to work

  • comforting the bereaved

Questions to consider

  • How do you honor the dead?
  • Who deserves grief more?

Another view

Mourning the dead is a natural human response.

More from Nathaniel Parker Willis

  1. It is the month of June, The month of leaves and roses, When pleasant sights salute the eyes, And pleasant scents the noses.

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  2. Wisdom sits alone Topmost in Heaven.

    Permalink to quote #5
  3. For it stirs the blood in an old man's heart, And makes his pulses fly, To catch the thrill of a happy voice And the light of a pleasant eye.

    Permalink to quote #2

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