For I know not why we should delay our tokens of respect to those who deserve them, until the heart that our sympathy could have gladdened has ceased to beat. As men cannot read the epitaphs inscribed upon the marble that covers them, so the tombs that we erect to virtue often only prove our repentance that we neglected it when with us.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician

Letter to F. T. Mappin (25 Sep 1855)
    (Source)

Quoted in The Illustrated London News, Vol. 27 (6 Oct 1855)