What Are the Best Engraving Quotes?: The Complete List of Short, Meaningful Quotes for Gift Giving (277 Ideas!)

By Samantha Di Nardo

Dayspring Pens Abingdon Blue Ballpoint

What Are the Best Engraving Quotes?: The Complete List of Short, Meaningful Quotes for Gift Giving (277 Ideas!)

By Samantha Di Nardo

It's really hard to know what custom engraving to get on a personalized gift for a loved one.

I've written another article on the subject that gives some strategies for coming up with your own engraving verbiage. 

In this article, however, I've compiled a list here of easy, short, custom engraving go-to's that can help you narrow down the right engraving ideas for your gift recipient.

In this article, you'll see my full list of suggestions along with 50 famous quotes about writing, books, pens, and more!

After that, I've gathered 10 hilarious pen puns just for laughs to go along with your engraved gift.

Before I jump in, two preliminary remarks to relieve any potential stress about engraving choices:

  1. You can never go wrong by simply getting their name engraved on the pen. It's simple and still super meaningful.
  2. At Dayspring Pens, you can get your pen engraved with two lines of personalized engraving to double the possibilities for quotes. This just gives you more wiggle room. (If you're interested in engraved gift pens, be sure to check out our list of best sellers.)
  3. There's no end to the meaningful phrases and powerful quotes you can say to a loved one. 277 suggestions is just NOT enough. So, these gifting ideas are really just meant to help get your gears turning as far as the possibilities. You don't have to just copy and paste from the list below.

Add your own spin!

So without further delay...

277 things to engrave on your gift pen

I've organized all my suggestions by occasion, relationships, and occupations.

Let's take it case-by-case.

Engraving ideas for the Christmas season

1.) Merry Christmas!
2.) Happy Holidays!
3.) You're the best Christmas gift!
4.) From Santa
5.) Gift of the Year!
6.) You made the Nice List!
7.) Write and be merry!
8.) Joyful, Joyful
9.) In the true spirit of Christmas!
10.) Blessings this Christmas!
11.) Words are not enough
12.) With all the Christmas cheer!

Engraving ideas for friends

13.) For my best friend forever
14.) You've got a friend in me.
15.) To my funny friend.
16.) My ride or die
17.) For the real one
18.) Partners in crime
19.) Let your dreams come true!
20.) True friends give pens.
21.) You inspire me.
22.) Double trouble
23.) To my best pen pal
24.) Chill, dude.
25.) Friends are other selves.
26.) Friends for life
27.) Friends
28.) I'm glad we're friends
29.) The one friend I go to
30.) You help me find my keys
31.) The gifts of friendship
32.) My great friend

Engraving ideas for family members

33.) My dearest
34.) I love you forever!
35.) From Dad
36.) From Mom
37.) To my favorite child
38.) To my wonderful [father/mother/son/daughter/brother/sister]
39.) I'm proud of you!
40.) I support you!
41.) You make me happy!
42.) I'm so happy to be your [father/mother/son/daughter/brother/sister]
43.) I'll always be your [father/mother/son/daughter/brother/sister]
44.) Mom wanted to get you a puppy.
45.) Rebel child
46.) The special child
47.) First in family
48.) Jen's first pen
49.) Love you

Engraving ideas for birthdays

50.) Happy Birthday!
51.) It is your birthday.
52.) You're getting so old.
53.) For John/Jane, on his/her #th birthday.
54.) 105 years young!
55.) You're still 24 in my heart.
56.) In memoriam to your twenties.
57.) Thanks for existing!
58.) You're a gift!
59.) Birthday pen.
60.) A very special birthday!
61.) It's a big life to celebrate!
62.) Have the time of your life

Engraving ideas for Valentine's Day and Anniversaries

63.) Love you to the moon and back!
64.) My diamond forever
65.) True love
66.) Our love is the best gift I have.
67.) You're my sweetheart
68.) My sunshine
69.) My person
70.) You are special to me
71.) Apple of my eye
72.) My forever
73.) My heart and soul
74.) Engraved on my heart
75.) Soul mate
76.) Happy Valentine's Day
77.) My favorite valentine
78.) Happy anniversary!
79.) Every year with you is perfect
80.) First in my life
81.) engraved on my soul
82.) my heart of hearts
83.) I heart you
84.) Because I can't afford jewelry
85.) my special friend
86.) our love is strong
87.) I love spending my life with you
88.) Take all my time
89.) I want a life with you
90.) I want forever with you
91.) The only one for me
92.) The one who has my heart
93.) I find myself in you
94.) First love
95.) You are loved
96.) You are everything to me

Engraving ideas for Father's Day

Man holding engraved Bailey Medalist Ballpoint showing engraving
97.) World's best dad!
98.) Thanks for being my dad!
99.) To my favorite dad
100.) To write down your dad jokes
101.) Proud to be your [son/daughter]!
102.) Best advice giver
103.) My wisened and wild dad
104.) Love you forever, Dad!
105 .) Lucky to have you as my dad
106.) You inspire me to be better!
107.) For having my back every day
108.) Your jokes are terrible.
109.) Happy Father's Day!
110.) Life advice coordinator
111.) Oil changer of the century
112.) Thanks for life

Engraving ideas for Mother's Day

Engraved Red Alexandria Fountain Pen next to a cup of coffee
113.) I love you, mom!
114.) Forever the best madre!
115.) Mom of the year!
116.) Mom of the century!
117.) Thanks for giving me life
118.) My greatest inspiration
119.) You make me proud
120.) Proud to be your [son/daughter]!
121.) I love you and I like you
122.) I'll always be your [son/daughter]!
123.) Happy Mother's Day!
124.) I'll never forget your love
125.) Best mom in the world!
126.) In my heart always
127.) Have the best time!
128.) Your love is my hiding place
129.) Love gives life

Engraving ideas for coworkers

Engraved Black Century II Rollerball in display case on top of journal
130.) I wish you every success
131.) To get through Monday
132.) Thanks for having my back
133.) Best cubicle buddy
134.) King of the Water Cooler
135.) World's Best Coworker
136.) World's Best Boss
137.) Welcome to the team!
138.) Office Queen
139.) Desk Jockey of the Year
140.) For all your hard work
141.) Paperwork Pioneer

Engraving ideas for work promotions and new hires

Engraved Calais Black Ballpoint in display box next to plant
142.) Welcome to the team!
143.) To go with the new office
144.) Team Member
145.) For stepping up
146.) Hard work pays off
147.) Success is yours
148.) I wish you all the best!
149.) For your future endeavors
150.) Good job, man!
151.) Good luck in your new position!

Engraving ideas for graduations

Engraved Calais Blue and Chrome Ballpoint Set on top of binder
152.) You did it!
153.) Congratulations!
154.) Class of 2021!
155.) Congratulations, Dr. [John Smith]!
156.) You're done with school!
157.) To the best graduate!
158.) To my favorite scholar!
159.) University of [Cambridge] 2021!
159.) Future world changer
160.) You survived!
161.) Make it count!
162.) To sign the checks
163.) Word magician, PhD
164.) Success awaits
165.) The world is your oyster
166.) Have the time of your life

Engraving ideas for award recipients

Engraved Expert Black Ballpoint placed on blue box with desk items
167.) Congratulations!
168.) Salesman/Saleswoman of the Year!
169.) Team MVP
170.) Company Success Story
171.) Thank you for your effort
172.) Team Player
173.) Morale booster
174.) All heart

Engraving ideas for writers

Engraved Hemisphere Black Ballpoint next to red journal
175.) A writer's best friend
176.) Write every day down
177.) The write pen
178.) Make every word count
179.) For when the words come
180.) Find the write words
181.) The write life
182.) Great writers need great pens
183.) For the inspiration
184.) Focus, the words will come
185.) Poet
186.) Great poets steal
187.) Get back to your novel
188.) For your memoirs
189.) Engrave your life in history

Engraving ideas for doctors and other medical professionals

Engraved Classic Century Gold Ballpoint placed on notebook with desk items
190.) Best Doctor Forever Award
191.) RN of the Year
192.) Always my favorite PA
193.) Thank you for everything!
194.) I'll always remember your care
195.) Doctor's pen
196.) Your handwriting is bad
197.) But you're still a good MD

Engraving ideas for lawyers

Man holding engraved Alexandria Red Ballpoint to take notes
198.) Your handwriting is a crime
199.) JD of the century
200.) Underwriter's Pen
201.) Partner of the Year
202.) Partner in crime, sort of
203.) Deposition Master
204.) To go with your law suit
205.) Your lawyer is present
206.) Lawyer present
207.) Bickers & Bickers
208.) Know the law, know the judge
209.) Paralegal: the real lawyer here
210.) Where there's a will there's a lawsuit.

Engraving ideas for psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists

211.) Mental health professional
212.) My favorite therapist
213.) Oedipal expert
214.) Forever my Freudian friend
215.) Absolutely mental
216.) How am I feeling today?
217.) I wonder what that was all about.
218.) World's least creepy psychoanalyst
219.) Piaget's Pen

Engraving ideas for philosophers

Engraved Rosewood Pen and Pencil Set next to display case
220.) For the time being...
221.) Socratic Society Founder
222.) World's best philosopher
223.) World's worst philosopher
224.) Stoic of the Century
225.) platofan1994
226.) Derrida's Bane
227.) Continental philosophy forever
228.) What is wisdom, Socrates?
229.) Lover of wisdom
230.) Cogito ergo sum
231.) I think therefore I am
232.) A friend is another self
233.) For cheating the ethics exam.
234.) Anti-capitalist gang
235.) Wittgenstein's Pen

Engraving ideas for clergy

236.) Pastor of the year
237.) Resident theology guy
238.) Because nuns can have fun too
239.) Preacher's pen
240.) Methodist magic
241.) Bishop Barron for the Papacy
242.) Calvinist gang rise up
243.) Always reforming
244.) Trinitarians for life

Engraving ideas for inspiration

245.) The whole world's a stage
246.) Inspiration machine
247.) Live your dreams always
248.) Great things are coming
249.) Your outlook is important
250.) Good things come to those who wait
251.) Do what you want
252.) Hold onto every moment
253.) Inspiration flows in silence
254.) Apply your mind
255.) There is a way

Engraving ideas for encouragement

256.) Never give up!
257.) Keep up the good work!
258.) You can do this!
259.) You've got the biggest heart
260.) Do today, tomorrow will come later.
261.) May all your dreams come true
262.) The world is so big, write it down.
263.)Every day is a new day.
264.) Take it slow
265.) Thanks for all you do
266.) Give thanks always
267.) Way to go!

Engraving ideas for laughs

268.) In lieu of a PS5...
269.) Dad?
270.) Feeling stabby?
271.) Answer the phone.
272.) Momma needs a coke
273.) Breakfast: cigarettes and coffee
274.) A pen, again.
275.) #1 biscuit
276.) You guys made me ink.
and FINALLY...
277.) OBGYN, at your cervix.

There are a ton of other lists of engraving ideas out there as well if you need more.

Check out the list from Thoughtful Impressions here, and another comprehensive list from Love, Georgie.

49 famous sayings about pens, books, and writing!

Photo of Black Ceramic Male Profile Statue Under Grey Sky during Daytime

Here's 49 famous quotes about all things writing to go with the gifts you engrave.

Some of the quotes in here can also be boiled down to short meaningful phrases that you can get on your personalized pen, but I also suggest you use these for ideas of gift notes to give alongside the pen!

1.) "The pen is mightier than the sword."
2.) “Anyone who thinks the pen is mightier than the sword has not been stabbed with both.”

― Lemony Snicket

3.) “I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.”

― Jorge Luis Borges

4.) “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”

― Jorge Luis Borges

5.) "And all the sweet serenity of books.”

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

6.) “My library is an archive of longings.”

― Susan Sontag

7.) “She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.”

― Annie Dillard

8.) "[To] the library, and step on it.”

— David Foster Wallace

9.) “The world was hers for the reading.”

— Betty Smith

10.) “I cannot live without books.”

― Thomas Jefferson

11.) “Books are the mirrors of the soul.”

-Virginia Woolf

12.) “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

― St. Augustine

13.) “′Classic′ - a book which people praise and don't read.”

― Mark Twain

14.) “Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”

― Lemony Snicket

15.) “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

― C.S. Lewis

16.) “Into the ash I dripped my pen and came out with fire.”

― Jazz Feylynn

17.) "Every moment is a fresh beginning."

– T.S Eliot

18.) “Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”

― T.S. Eliot

19.) "Whatever you do, do it well."

– Walt Disney

20.) "What we think, we become."

– Buddha

21.) "If I’m gonna tell a real story, I’m gonna start with my name."

– Kendrick Lamar

22.) "Reality is wrong, dreams are for real."

– Tupac

23.) "Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud."

– Maya Angelou

24.) "And still, I rise."

– Maya Angelou

26.) "The time is always right to do what is right."

– Martin Luther King Jr.

27.) "The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

— Sylvia Plath

28.) “Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences”

― Sylvia Plath

29.) "I can never read all the books I want."

-Sylvia Plath

30.) “Books were safer than other people anyway.”

― Neil Gaiman

31.) “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

― Douglas Adams

32.) “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

― Ernest Hemingway

33.) “There is no friend as loyal as a book.”

― Ernest Hemingway

34.) “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

― Ray Bradbury

35.) “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

― Anne Frank

36.) “Tears are words that need to be written.”

― Paulo Coelho

37.) “Always be a poet, even in prose.”

― Charles Baudelaire

38.) “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.”

― Albert Camus

39.) “Write what should not be forgotten.”

― Isabel Allende

40.) “A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity."

― Franz Kafka

41.) “Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.”

― Franz Kafka

42.) “I write for the same reason I breathe.”

― Isaac Asimov

43.) “You can fix anything but a blank page.”

― Nora Roberts

44.) “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.”

― Martin Luther

45.) “To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.”

― Aristotle

46.) “Poems are never finished - just abandoned”

― Paul Valery

47.) “What cannot be said above all must not be silenced but written.”

― Jacques Derrida

48.) “Fiction is the truth inside the lie.”

― Stephen King

49.) “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

― Stephen King

50.) “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

― Pericles

I hope these quotes give your gifts that extra touch of personal inspiration!

10 Pen puns to make writers laugh!

Laugh Neon-light Signage Turned on

I love puns. Every time a customer orders a pen from me with a punny engraving, I celebrate!

That's why I've added some of my favorite pen puns here for your enjoyment.

  1. "The best pen ever made will be the second to last ever made... Because it would be the penultimate."
  2. "I bought a pen that can write underwater. It can write other words too."
  3. "What do Mike and Sulley fill their pens with? Monsters Ink."
  4. "I got into an argument with a friend about whether pens were better than pencils... I’ll admit, they had a point, but I still think the argument will be erased in time."
  5. "I decided to make a fortune with a new invention: a vending machine for writing tools! The patent is 'pending'"
  6. "Somebody stole my pen. That’s just not write."
  7. "I need some help fixing my new pen. Anyone have any tips?"
  8. "All my pens are sick. It's a pen-demic."
  9. "I wrote a bad word in my english paper, and instead of getting a bad grade, my professor just took all my writing instruments away. That was my PENalty."
  10. "Don't try to repair a broken pen. It's pointless."

Conclusion

I hope you found the right engraving for you!

Before you go, if you're looking for affordable engraved gifts, be sure to check out our list of the best Cross pens

Now it's your turn!

Let me know your favorite engraving in the comments!

Sam Di Nardo

Sam Di Nardo is an author for Dayspring Pens, where she has honed her expertise in ballpoint, rollerball, gel and fountain pens since joining the team in 2018.

From her initial role as an Engraver to becoming the Production Manager, Sam's journey has been marked by her passion for the history, manufacturing, and the unique value of gifted writing instruments.

A graduate of Regent University with a degree in English Literature and a special interest in Old Norse literature, dive deeper into Sam's world and discover why she's your trusted guide in the realm of gift pens.

Follow Sam on LinkedIn.

3 Comments

I need a clever saying for a martini glass for a board member on condo association always getting beat up. She drinks wine but switching her to a martini and will deliver it to her after the meeting. Can you help with ideas??

Shari

“To Give Your Thoughts Eternal Life”

Tamar

Thank You so much for all these ideas – SUPER :)

Shakil Traiq

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.