“True, more than a half of the green graves in the Grafton cemetery are marked "Unknown," and sometimes it occurs that one thinks of the contradiction involved in "honoring the memory" of him of whom no memory remains to honor; but the attempt seems to do no great harm to the living, even to the logical.”

— Ambrose Bierce , book A Bivouac of the Dead

A Bivouac of the Dead, The New York American, November 22, 1903

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "True, more than a half of the green graves in the Grafton cemetery are marked "Unknown," and sometimes it occurs that o…" by Ambrose Bierce?

Ambrose Bierce 204

American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabu… 1842–1914

Related quotes

“There was a grave just closed. Not one seemed near,
To pay the tribute of one long—last tear!
How very desolate must that one be,
Whose more than grave has not a memory!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

Rosalie.
The Improvisatrice (1824)

“I loved the man and do honor his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any.”

Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English writer

On William Shakespeare
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Timber: or Discoveries

“There is more beauty than our eyes can bear, precious things have been put into our hands and to do nothing to honor them is to do great harm.”

Marilynne Robinson Gilead

Source: Gilead

“To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his own.”
Honeste vivere, alterum non laedere, suum cuique tribuere.

Ulpian (170–228) Roman jurist

“This is a masterful and heartbreaking film, and it does honor to the memory of the victims.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review https://web.archive.org/web/20130707210114/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/united-93-2006 of United 93 (27 April 2006)
Reviews, Four star reviews
Context: It is not too soon for "United 93," because it is not a film that knows any time has passed since 9/11. The entire story, every detail, is told in the present tense. We know what they know when they know it, and nothing else. Nothing about Al Qaeda, nothing about Osama bin Laden, nothing about Afghanistan or Iraq, only events as they unfold. This is a masterful and heartbreaking film, and it does honor to the memory of the victims.

“The memory of most men is an abandoned cemetery where lie, unsung and unhonored, the dead whom they have ceased to cherish.”

Marguerite Yourcenar book Memoirs of Hadrian

La mémoire de la plupart des hommes est un cimetière abandonné, où gisent sans honneurs des morts qu'ils ont cessé de chérir.
Source: Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), p. 209