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Famous last words
Sorted alphabetically by last name (with some monarchs and leaders sorted by their first names, e.g. William the Silent).
A
- “Ja, maar niet te veel.”
- Who: Gerrit Achterberg Dutch poet.
- Translation: “Yes, but not too many”
- Note: Achterberg had just parked his car, when his wife asked: “Shall I bake some potatoes?” After answering the question he suffered a fatal heart attack.
- [Asked by Mrs. Clark if he knew what day it was.] "Oh, yes; it is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God bless it. God bless you all. [He then lapsed into unconsciousness. He awakened later, and mumbled:] Thomas Jefferson...."
- Who: John Adams
- John Adams died on July 4, 1826. Thomas Jefferson had died just a few hours earlier. Some depictions of Adams' final words indicate he might have not expressed the entire statement before dying, ie: "Thomas Jefferson… still survi—", but this is unreliable.
- "This is the last of Earth! I am content."
- "To the strongest!"
- Who: Alexander the Great
- In response to his generals asking the heirless Alexander which one of them would get control of the empire.
- "mi mou tous kiklous taratte"
- Translation: "Don't disturb my circles!"
- Who : Archimedes
- In response to a Roman soldier who was forcing him to report to the roman general after the capture of Sycrause, while he was busy sitting on the ground proving geometry theories. The Soldier killed him in response.
B
- "How were the receipts today at Madison Square garden?"
- Who: P.T Barnum , Circus Entrepreneur
- "Friends applaud, the comedy is finished."
- Who: Ludwig van Beethoven
- Note: Some sources claim Beethoven's last words were "I shall hear in Heaven".
- "Dêem-me café, vou escrever!"
- Translation: "Give me coffee, I´m going to write"
- Who: Olavo Bilac , Brazilian poet
- "¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?" (Spanish )
- "I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis."
- "Now I shall go to sleep. Goodnight."
C
- "Et tu, Brute?"
- Translation: "You too, Brutus?"
- Who: Julius Caesar
- Attributed to him by Shakespeare's famous play; his real last words are unknown, but may have been this, or "tu quoque, Brutus mea filium?" (You too, Brutus my son?") - or in Greek as some think, "Kai su teknon?". Brutus, one of Caesar's assassins, was rumored to have been his bastard son.
- "The Earth is suffocating. . .Swear to make them cut me open, so that I won't be buried alive."
- Who: Frederic Chopin , Polish Composer and Pianist.
- "I have tried so hard to do the right."
- Who: Grover Cleveland , US President, died 1908
- "Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking towards me, without hurrying."
- "Dammit. . .Don't you dare ask God to help me."
- Who: Joan Crawford . This comment was directed towards her housekeeper who began to pray aloud.
- "That was a great game of golf, fellers."
- Who: Bing Crosby . He was playing the whole 18 holes of golf (even when his doctor said to only do nine). 20 minutes after the game, he died of a heart attack.
- "Why not, after all it belongs to Him!."
- Who: Charlie Chaplin. He said this when one of the people standing near him spoke to him, " May God Bless Your Soul".
- "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, you are going to see another first -- attempted suicide."
- Who: 30-year-old anchorwoman Chris Chubbuck , who, on July 15, 1974, during technical difficulties during a broadcast, said these words on-air before producing a revolver and shooting herself in the head. She was pronounced dead in hospital fourteen hours later.
D
- "I am not the least afraid to die."
- "Little Cousins, Called back."
- Who: Emily Dickinson. Letter to Louise and Frances Norcross, May 1886.
- Source: Johnson, Thomas H., ed. Emily Dickinson Selected Letters. Cambridge: Belknap, 1971.
- "Stay back, this could hurt someone."
- Who: R. Budd Dwyer , former treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as he brandished the handgun with which he shot himself in the head moments later.
E
- "Was ist mit mir geschehen?"
- Translation: "What happened with me?"
- Who: Elisabeth of Austria
- To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?
F
- "Es ist gar nichts!"
- Translation: "It's nothing"
- Who: Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria
- "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring"
- "The nourishment is palatable."
- Who: Former US President Millard Fillmore
- Notes: This was his response when his physician inquired about his food.
- "This is absurd! This is absurd!" (english translation)
G
- "Hai Ram!..."
- Translation: This is an exclamation to Ram (or Rama) , who in Hindu traditions is one of the manifestations of Vishnu . It is the equivalent to "Amen!", and to die while speaking this is held to be a great blessing.
- Who: Mahatma Gandhi
- "Try to accomplish your aim with diligence."
- "Mehr Licht."
- Who: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Translation: "More light."
- It is also reported that "Come my little one, and give me your hand." were the last words he declared to his daughter Ottilie.
- "I know you have come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."
H
- "That's good. Read some more."
- Who: Warren G. Harding , to his wife, who was reading him flattering newspaper accounts.
- "I know that I am going where Lucy is."
- Who: Rutherford B. Hayes , speaking of his late wife
- "Turn up the lights— I don't want to go home in the dark."
- Who: O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), June 5, 1910
- "Ich bin Heinrich Himmler."
- Who: Heinrich Himmler
- Translation: "I am Heinrich Himmler."
I
- "Tvert imot!"
- Who: Henrik Ibsen
- Translation: "On the contrary!"
- Notes: This was his response to a nurse who said she thought he looked better than usual.
J
- "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees."
- Who: General Stonewall Jackson
- Is it the Fourth? [Doctor Robley Dunglison: "It soon will be."] I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country.
- Who: Thomas Jefferson
- Jefferson died on July 4, 1826. This was the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence , which was written mostly by Thomas Jefferson.
- "Eli, Eli, lama azavthani? " (God, God, why have you foresaken me?)
- "I am thirsty."
- "It is finished." (In one account this is followed by "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.")
- "Send Mike immediately!"
- Who: Lyndon Johnson, to a Secret Service agent over an in-house telephone
K
- "I'll be in Hell before you start breakfast!"
- Who: "Black Jack" Ketchum , notorious train robber, after springing up the gallows step to his execution; the rope was too short, and his head was pulled off by the noose.
- " I should have drunk more Champagne."
- "Minä elän."
- Who: Aleksis Kivi
- Translation: "I'm alive." (or equally: "I live.")
L
- "I wish I was skiing." [Nurse: "Oh, Mr. Laurel, do you ski?"] "No, but I'd rather be skiing than doing what I'm doing."
- "I think I'm going to make it!"
- Who: Richard Loeb , half of the famous murderers Leopold and Loeb; said after being slashed ninety times with a razor by a fellow inmate
- ["Are you John Lennon?"] "Yes, I am."
- Who: John Lennon, responding to a policeman's inquiry after being shot by Mark David Chapman in front of Lennon's New York apartment building.
- "Allah, save this country! Pakistan zindabad!"
- Who" Liaquat Ali Khan (First Prime Minister of Pakistan),spoke to nation after being shot.
- Translation:"Pakistan zindabad" means "long live Pakistan."
M
- [Niece: "What is the matter, Uncle James?"] "Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear. I always talk better lying down."
- "Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!"
- Who: Karl Marx, asked by his housekeeper what his last words were
- "It's all been rather lovely."
- Who: John Le Mesurier , before slipping into a final coma.
- "Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise"
- "If you don't like it, you can just fuck off!"
- Who: Keith Moon , to his girlfriend, after requesting that she cook him steak for breakfast.
- "Shoot straight you Bastards."
- Who: Harry 'Breaker' Morant
- Note: Morant was courtmartialed and executed by the British, charged with killing Boer prisoners. To the end he claimed to have been following orders.
N
- "Thank God I have done my duty."
O
- "I am just going out. I may be some time."
- Who: Lawrence Oates
On Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition, while suffering from frostbite and sheltering from a blizzard, Oates felt he was reducing his companions' chances of survival and he ended his life by leaving the tent.
- "This isn't Hamlet, you know. It's not meant to go into the bloody ear."
- Who: Lawrence Olivier supposedly said this when a nurse, attempting to moisten his lips, mis-aimed.
P
- "The only sentiment you'll get out of me is that I wish the whole world had one neck and I had my hands wrapped around it."
- Who: Carl Panzram , serial killer, shortly before he was executed by hanging.
- May alternatively be : "Hurry it up you bastard, I could kill ten men while you're fooling around!"
- "Me l'aspettavo."
- Pino Puglisi , Italian priest shot by a Mafia assassin
- Translation: "I expected it to happen".
- Note: Pino Puglisi was reported to have smiled to his killer.
Q
R
- "Je m'en vais chercher un grand peut-être."
- Who: François Rabelais
- Translation: "I am off in search of the great perhaps."
- Variant Translation: "I am off in search of a great may-be."
- "I have a terrible headache."
- Who: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died of a massive cerebral hemmorhage
- Note: According to Conrad Black in his biography Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, page 1110, FDR was sitting for a portrait when he put his left hand to the back of his head and said: "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He then was carried to his bed by several people, as they were doing this "he was understood by Laura Delano to say, only semiconsciously, 'Be careful.' These were his last words."
- "Me mudda did it."
- Who: Arnold Rothstein , a.k.a. Mr. Big, when asked who shot him
S
- "'For God's sake look after our people.
- R. Scott."
- Who: Robert Falcon Scott .
- Note: These were the last words he wrote in his diary, before he froze to death.
- "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."
- These were among the final words of General John Sedgwick, Union Commander in the U.S. Civil War, who was hit by sniper fire a few minutes after saying them, at the battle of Spotsylvania, on May 9, 1864. They are often portrayed as if they were absolutely his last statement, the sentence often being presented as if he did not even finish it, and altered into the form: "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...". Though this may be a slightly more striking version of events, it simply is not true. - (External link: Death of General John Sedgwick)
- "Put me back on the bloody bike."
- Who: Tom Simpson
- Note: Tom Simpson was a cyclist died on the Mont Ventoux, probably because of a combination of amphetamines, alcohol and the heat. Some say his last words were "Put me back on my bike."
- "Oh Lord, my God!"
- Who: Joseph Smith, Jr. crying out while being shot by a mob inside his room. Some assert Smith's cry was a Masonic distress call for help as Smith and some of those within the mob which assassinated him were Masons .
- "My God, what's happened?"
T
- "Die, my dear doctor, that's the last thing I shall do!"
- Who: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
- "I just had eighteen straight scotches. I think that's the record."
- "Ein davar, tov lamut be'ad arzenu"
- Translation: "Never mind; it is good to die for our country"
- Who: Joseph Trumpeldor (1880-1920)
- Trumpeldor was a soldier and early pioneer/settler in Israel, he died defending the Tel-Hai settlment from an Arab attack.
- Notes: Modern Israeli jocular rumor claims Trumpeldor's true last words were merely a juicy Russian curse.
U
V
- "I'm fukcin"
- Who: Brandon Vedas, AKA ripper
- Notes: An IRC chat room witnessed Brandon die of a prescription drug overdose.
- "All right then, I'll say it: Dante makes me sick."
- Who: , famous playwright, on being assured that the end was very near.
- Puto deus fio
- Translation: "[Dear me!] I think I'm turning into a god..."
- Who: Vespasian , Roman emperor
- Source: Suetonius
- Notes: And indeed, Vespasian was deified after his death
- "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."
- Who: Francisco ("Pancho") Villa
- "Now, now, my good man, this is no time for making enemies."
- Who: Voltaire (attributed), when asked by a priest to renounce Satan
W
- "I am just going. Have me decently buried and do not let my body be into a vault in less than two days after I am dead. Do you understand me? ["Yes," replied Tobias Lear, his secretary.] 'Tis well."
- "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go."
- Who: Oscar Wilde
- Variation: "These curtains are killing me, one of us has got to go."
- Notes: Mr. Wilde said this in the Left Bank hotel where he died on November 30 1900, the wallpaper has since been removed and the room re-furnished in the style of one of Mr. Wilde's London flats. This has sometimes been misquoted as "These curtains are killing me, one of us has got to go."
- "Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, ayez pitié de mon âme et de ce pauvre peuple"
- Who: William the Silent
- Translation: "My Lord, my Lord, have pity upon my soul and this poor people."
X
Y
Z
Famous last words in fiction
- "Strewth!"
- "Kiss me, Hardy!"
- "Rosebud..."
See also
- Epitaphs
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