famous last words?

Question

" this will work out just fine"

Answer 1

Famous Last Words
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.


"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.


"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)


"Who the h*** wants to hear actors talk?" -- H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927


"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." -- Gary Cooper, on his decision to not take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."


"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.


"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.


"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.


"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.


"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'" -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.


"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.


"You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training." -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.


"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." -- Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist in his project to drill for oil in 1859.


"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.


"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.


"Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.


"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction". -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872


"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon". -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.


"No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris." -- Orville Wright.


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Last words
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Sorted alphabetically by last name (with some monarchs and leaders sorted by their first names, e.g. William the Silent).




A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
See also
[edit]
A
Ja, maar niet te veel.
Translation: Yes, but not too much
Who: Gerrit Achterberg Dutch poet.
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. He is often quoted as having said "Thomas Jefferson still survives." with some depictions indicating he might have not expressed the entire statement before dying, ie: "Thomas Jefferson… still survi—", but some research indicates that only the words "Thomas Jefferson" were clearly intelligible among his last. Adams did not know that Jefferson, his great political rival—and later friend and correspondent—had died a few hours earlier that same 4th of July, 1826.
This is the last of Earth! I am content..
Who: John Quincy Adams, US President, February 21, 1848.
Is it not meningitis?
Who: Louisa May Alcott
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.
When asked on his deathbed who was to succeed him, his voice may have been indistinct. Alexander may have said "Krateros" (the name of one of his generals), but he was not around, and the others may have chosen to hear "Kratistos- the strongest".
Home to the palace to die...
Who: Tsar Alexander II
His guards heard him utter this phrase when they found his shattered body in the wreckage of his carriage, which had been destroyed by an anarchist's bomb.
Wait a minute...
Who: Pope Alexander VI
Pardonnez-moi, monsieur.
Translation: Pardon me, monsieur
Who: Marie Antoinette
Note: As she approached the guillotine, convicted of treason and about to be beheaded, she accidentally stepped on the foot of her executioner.
mè mou tous kuklous taratte (Μη μου τους κύκλους τάραττε)
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 Syracuse, while he was busy sitting on the ground proving geometry theorems. The soldier killed him.
What time is it ?
Who: Ataturk to his doctors on November 10th 1938, at 9:05 am
Am I dying, or is this my birthday?
Who: Nancy, Lady Astor
Note: In her final illness, she awoke on her deathbed to see her family at her bedside.
Death seeketh us all
Who: Gawain III
[edit]
B
How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?
Who: P. T. Barnum, circus entrepreneur
I can't sleep.
Who: J.M. Barrie
Now I can cross the Shifting Sands.
Who: L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz
Note: Baum was referring to the Shifting Sands, the impassable desert surrounding the Land of Oz.
Applaud, my friends, the comedy is finished.
Who: Ludwig van Beethoven
Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.; the formula traditionally used to end a performance of commedia del arte.
Note: His final words are subject to historical debate, and vary with many biographies. Among those that have been reported to be is last words are:
"I shall hear in Heaven."
"I feel as if up to now I had written no more than a few notes."
(To his friend Johann Hummel, who was at his bedside), "Is it not true, Hummel, that I have some talent after all?"
"There, do you hear the bell? Don't you hear it ringing? The curtain must drop. Yes! My curtain is falling."
Another biographer has him saying nothing; simply shaking his fists defiantly at the heavens as a thunderstorm raged outside his window.
Passi-ho bé, senyor Bernades (Catalan)
Translation: Goodbye, Mr. Bernades
Who: Josep Bernades
What is this?
Who: Leonard Bernstein
Dêem-me café, vou escrever!
Translation: Give me coffee, I´m going to write
Who: Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet
¿Quién es? ¿Quién es? (Spanish)
Translation: Who is it? Who is it?
Who: Billy the Kid
I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.
Who: Humphrey Bogart
France, armée, Joséphine...
Translation: France, army, Josephine
Who: Napoleon Bonaparte
Je vais ou je vas mourir, l'un et l'autre se dit ou se disent. ( French )
Translation : I am about to -- or I am going to -- die: either expression is correct.
Who: Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian
Subject to breaking up are all compounded things. With mindfulness strive on.
Who: Siddhartha Gautama Buddha
Now I shall go to sleep. Goodnight.
Who: Lord Byron
By the Lord of the Ka'bah, I have succeeded.
Who: Ali ibn Abi Talib

*"If all the swords in England were pointed against my head, you threats would not move me."**ST.Thomas Becket to his killers.

[edit]
C
Acta est fabula.
Translation: The story has been completed.
Who: Caesar Augustus
Attributed
This is the phrase said at the end of Roman plays.
Tu quoque, Brute, fili mihi or Et tu, Brute
Translation: And you, Brutus, my son? / "You, too, Brutus, my son?"
Who: Julius Caesar
Attributed to him by Shakespeare's famous play; his real last words are unknown. Brutus, one of Caesar's assassins, was his adopted son. According to Suetonius, Caesar's last words were και συ τεκνον? (kai su, teknon? - "you too, my child?") (De Vita Caesarum Liber I Divus Iulius, LXXXII). There is actually a little more to the quote. The full quote is: "Et tu, Brute? And fall Caesar." The entire quote means "And you, Brutus? Then all hope is lost and I shall fall." He thought Brutus would be on his side, but, discovering Brutus has stabbed him, gives up all hope of salvation.
Vivo.
Translation: I live!
Who: Caligula, Roman Emperor, as he was being murdered by his own soldiers.
I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the world. Remember!
Who: Charles I, King of England, on the executioner's block, 30 January 1649
Take a step forward lads - it'll be easier that way.
Who: Robert Erskine Childers, last words, to his firing squad, Irish Civil War 1922
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'm bored with it all.
Who: Winston Churchill, before slipping into a coma and dying nine days later.
I have tried so hard to do right.
Who: Grover Cleveland, US President, died 1908
Thank God. I'm tired of being the funniest person in the room.
Who: Del Close, improvisor, teacher and comedian, died 1999
Peace, Love, Empathy. Kurt Cobain
Who: Kurt Cobain(in his 'suicide' note), Lead singer for American Grunge band Nirvana. Died April 5, 1994.
Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking towards me, without hurrying.
Who: Jean Cocteau
Lady, you shot me!
Who: Sam Cooke, after being shot in his hotel room.
Good morning, Robert.
Who: Calvin Coolidge, to a carpenter working on his home
More weight.
Who: Giles Corey, as he was being interrogated during the Salem Witch Trials. Massive stones were piled upon his chest in an effort to get him to confess, though he was eventually crushed to death, admitting nothing.
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 suffered a fatal 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, and said "may God bless your soul" in his movie "Monsieur Verdoux (1947)."
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 Christine 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.
Hurrah Boys! Let's get these last few reds then head on back to camp. Hurrah!
Who: George Armstron Custer
Note: This is what he believed, Custer had the upper hand from the start but then he was closed in on by a much larger force.
[edit]
D
I am not the least afraid to die.
Who: Charles Darwin
That guy's got to stop... He'll see us.
Who: James Dean
Words said before dying in a car accident.
On the ground!
Who: Charles Dickens
He suffered a stroke on a walk near his home, and asked to be laid down on the ground.
But how the devil do you think this could harm me?.
Who: Denis Diderot, French encyclopedist, upon being warned by his wife not to eat too much.
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.
Get these ******* nuns away from me.
Who: Norman Douglas
Hit the water!...Hit the water!...Hit the water!...
Who: Jane Dornacker as she was giving a traffic report for WNBC via helicopter. The helicopter stalled and plummeted into the river below while Jane was still on the air, broadcasting her final moments all across New York City.
Shakespeare, I come!
Who: Theodore Dreiser. 28 December 1945 (Stolen from Matthew Arnold)
Adieu, mes amis, Je vais à la gloire!
Translation: "Farewell my friends, I go to glory!"
Who: Isadora Duncan
Note: Said before she got in her car to go home. Her scarf got caught around the wheel and strangled her instantly as the driver took off.
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.
Sometimes quoted as: "Stay back, this thing will hurt someone!"
[edit]
E
To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?
Who: George Eastman, Inventor (in his suicide note)
It's very beautiful over there.
Who: Thomas Edison
Spoken to his wife as he lapsed in and out of consciousness. There is debate over if he meant the afterlife, or the view from his window.
I've always loved my wife, my children, and my grandchildren, and I've always loved my country. I want to go. God, take me.
Who: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Was ist mit mir geschehen?
Translation: What has happened to me?
Who: Elisabeth of Austria
[edit]
F
Channel 5 is all ****, isn't it? Christ, the crap they put on there. It's a waste of space.
Who: Adam Faith
reported by the British tabloid press, but not verified
[Being asked: "Have you ever pondered by yourself what will be your occupation in the next world?".]
I shall be with Christ, and that is enough.
Who: Michael Faraday
Es ist gar nichts... es ist gar nichts...
Translation: It's nothing... it's nothing...
Who: Franz Ferdinand Archduke of Austria
Whispered to Count Harrach as the Archduke fell unconscious after being shot; he died shortly without ever regaining consciousness
Fräls mig!
Translation: Save me!
Who: Count Axel von Fersen.
Note: Fersen, who was Swedish marchall of the realm, was attacked in a mob riot during the burial procession of the crown prince, who's death wrongly was blamed on Fersen. The Count called for help from the Guard, but was killed before they could do anything.
I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring.
Who: Richard Feynman
The nourishment is palatable.
Who: Former US President Millard Fillmore
Notes: This was his response when his physician inquired about his food.
Hey, Jimmie! The Chimney Sweeps. Talk to the Sword. Shut up, you got a big mouth! Please come help me up, Henny. Max come over here... French Canadian bean soup...I want to pay, let them leave me alone...
Who: Arthur Flegenheimer, mobster, also known as Dutch Schultz.
Notes: Flegenheimer had been fatally shot by another mobster and taken to the hospital. As police officers interrogated him on his deathbed, he gave them long and frequently incoherent answers before finally dying.
A dying man can do nothing easily.
Who: Benjamin Franklin
Note: As he lay dying, his daughter suggested that if he lay on his side, he could breathe easier.
Das gute Essen
Translation: The good meal
Who: Fredrik I of Sweden
Note: He probably meant the Holy Communion
Hey, fellas! How about this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? 'French Fries'!
Who: James French.
Notes: French, a convicted murderer, was sentenced to the electric chair. He shouted these words to members of the press who were to witness his execution.
Das ist absurd! Das ist absurd!
Translation: This is absurd! This is absurd!
Who: Sigmund Freud
[edit]
G
Don't worry,relax !
Who: Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister,to his security staff minutes before being killed by a suicide bomber attack.
Hé Ram!...
Translation: This is an exclamation to Ram (or Rama), who in Hindu traditions is one of the manifestations of Vishnu. Hey Ram means "O! lord Ram!". (This is invoking the name of Rama, rather than an expression of surprise)
Who: Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.
[To his chief of staff, David G. Swaim] Oh Swaim, there is a pain here. Swaim, can't you stop this? Oh, oh, Swaim!
Who: James A. Garfield, American President.
I feel pain here.
Who: Charles de Gaulle, French leader.
Bugger Bognor.
Who: King George V of the United Kingdom
His physician had suggested that he relax at his seaside palace in Bognor Regis.
Mehr Licht.
Translation: More light.
Who: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It is also reported that "Come my little one, and give me your hand." were the last words he declared to his daughter Ottilie.
No! I didn't come here to make a speech. I came here to die.
Who: Crawford Goldsby, aka Cherokee Bill, when asked if he had anything to say before he was hanged.
Bakayaro! Bakayaro!
Translation: Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!
Who: Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942
Mehr nicht mehr.
Translation: More not more.
Who: D. Granosalis
Water.
Who: Ulysses S. Grant
It's stopped.
Who: Joseph Henry Green, upon checking his own pulse.
I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, you are only going to kill a man.
Who: Che Guevara. Variants :
"I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."
"Know this now, you are killing a man."
These reportedly were his last words, spoken to Sergeant Jaime Terán, who in different accounts had either volunteered to be his executioner, or been selected by lot. Because of the many different reports that have arisen, much confusion and uncertainty exists about his actual last words. His last words to Colonel Arnaldo Saucedo Parada, head of intelligence of the Eighth Division who delivered the official report on Che's final moments were reported as: "I knew you were going to shoot me; I should never have been taken alive. Tell Fidel that this failure does not mean the end of the revolution, that it will triumph elsewhere. Tell Aleida to forget this, remarry and be happy, and keep the children studying. Ask the soldiers to aim well." Some also report his final words as those he reportedly declared when he surrendered: "Don't shoot, I am Che Guevara and I am worth more to you alive than dead." At one point early in the confusions General Ovando, Chief of Bolivian Armed Forces, declared that he had died in battle, and that just before he dying he had declared: "I am Che Guevara and I have failed" these are sometimes accepted as his last words, though subsequent reports have generally discredited that initial account.
Summary of various accounts of Che Guevara's Death at George Washington University
Apparently, this news is meant to mislead us.
These are actually his last written words: They are the last paragraph of Che's last writing, "Bolivian Diary", which is the log Che kept during the Bolivian operations. Che is referring to information that he had about the ambush that the Bolivian army had prepared, and during which Che was arrested.
Nobody shot me.
Who: Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg, American mobster murdered as part of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
Note: In response to a police officer who asked "Who shot you?"
Ich bin der Kö*** von Schweden - gewesen.
Translation: I am the king of Sweden - no more
Who: Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden
Note: Said to an imperial soldier at the battle of Lützen.
Jag känner mig sömnig, ett kort ögonblicks vila skulle göra mig gott.
Translation: I feel tired, a short time of rest would do me good.
Who: Gustavus III of Sweden
[edit]
H
Southerly gales, squalls, lee rail under water, wet bunks, hard tack, bully beef, wish you were here--instead of me!
Who: Richard Halliburton, last known communication from the Chinese junk Sea Dragon at sea, March 23 1939
This is a mortal wound, doctor.
Who: Alexander Hamilton
Liberemus diuturna cura populum Romanum, quando mortem senis exspectare longum censent.
Translation: Let us ease the Roman people of their continual care, who think it long to await the death of an old man.
Who: Hannibal
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
Dieu me pardonnera, c'est son métier.
Translation: God will forgive me. It is his profession.
Who: Heinrich Heine
Turn up the lights— I don't want to go home in the dark.
Who: O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), June 5, 1910
All is lost! Monks, Monks, Monks! So, now all is gone - Empire, Body, and Soul!.
Who: Henry VIII
Don't mourn for me! Organize!
Who: Joe Hill, shouted to his supporters as he was led to his execution by firing squad.
Ich bin Heinrich Himmler.
Translation: I am Heinrich Himmler.
Who: Heinrich Himmler
This is funny.
Who: Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday was a consumptive gunfighter. He always thought, and perhaps hoped, that he would die in a fight or "with his boots on". He died in a hotel bed from consumption. These last words were uttered after seeing his feet with boots off.
I'm tired of fighting.
Who: Harry Houdini
I see black light.
Who: Victor Hugo
[edit]
I
Tvert imot!
Translation: On the contrary!
Who: Henrik Ibsen
Notes: This was his response to a nurse who told a visitor he was a little better.
[edit]
J
Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.
Who: General Stonewall Jackson
Jackson was accidently shot by his own men and died from pneumonia in his weakened condition.
I am dying. Please...bring me a toothpick.
Who: Alfred Jarry, Absurdist writer and playwright
"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. Jefferson's great political rival, John Adams—later a correspondent and friend—died the same day a few hours later.
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Who: Jesus of Nazareth. Last words according to Luke 23:46 : "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." (KJV)
It is finished.
Last words according to John 19:30 : "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit." (KJV)
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani? (God, God, why have you forsaken me?)
The last words (among very few) that are preserved of the Aramaic which Jesus spoke. (Mark 15:34 & Matthew 27:46)
Pozwólcie mi iść do domu Ojca.(Let me go to the Father's house)
Who: Pope John Paul II
Never by God will that be that a King of Bohemia flees from the battle.
Who: John the Blind of Luxemburg
Send Mike immediately!
Who: Lyndon Johnson, to a Secret Service agent over an in-house telephone
Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it! This is...
Who: David A. Johnston, volcanologist with the United States Geological Survey. Last radio transmission before being killed in the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Vicisti, Galilæe
Translation: You have conquered, O Galilean
Who: Emperor Julian, having attempted to reverse the official endorsement of Christianity by the Roman Empire.
[edit]
K
I hope the exit is joyful and hope never to return.
Who: Frida Kahlo
This statement suggests that Kahlo committed suicide.
Don't worry...it's not loaded...
Who: Terry Kath, rock musician in the band Chicago Transit Authority, as he put the gun he was cleaning to his head and pulled the trigger. Though the gun had no magazine in it, Kath was unaware that a bullet was already in the chamber and he was killed instantly.
Ille facit.
Translation: He will do it.
Who: Karl IX of Sweden
Note: Said about his son, Gustavus Adolphus the Great, who made Sweden a great power.
Herre Jesus, anamma min ande.
Translation: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Who: Karl XI of Sweden
Var intet rädd.
Translation: Be not afraid.
Who: Karl XII of Sweden
Note: Said to his officers when they expressed concern about him being in the trenches under the siege of Fredriksten. Minutes later he was killed.
Oscar, Oscar, nous nous défendrons.
Translation: Oscar, Oscar, we shall defend ourselves.
Who: Karl XIV Johan of Sweden-Norway
Note: Said to his son, crown prince Oscar.
Kommer jag att plågas mycket?
Translation: Will I be in much pain?
Who: Karl XV of Sweden-Norway
Such is life.
Who: Ned Kelly
I wish I could go with you.
Who: Walt Kelly, Cartoonist
Spoken to his wife, Selby Kelly, as she visited in him the hospital. According to her, he was lapsing in and out of consciousness. She told him she was going for coffee, unaware if he could hear her, and he said those words. She stayed by his side until he died from diabetes complications.
That's very obvious..
Who: John F. Kennedy, responding to Mrs. Connolly's comment, "Mr. President, you can't say that Dallas doesn't love you."
Is someone hurt?
Who: Robert F. Kennedy, to his wife directly after he was shot and seconds before he fell into a coma. He died in the early morning hours of the next day.
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 long, and his head was pulled off by the noose.
I should have drunk more Champagne.
Who: John-Maynard Keynes
Minä elän.
Translation: I live.
Who: Aleksis Kivi
I'll... be done now.
Who: Hideo Kuze, murdered, after he failed to lead refugees into a massive revolution against the Japanese government.
[edit]
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."
Who: Stan Laurel, before dying of a heart attack
Beautiful.
Who: Timothy Leary He also is known to have repeatedly said "Why Not" with various inflections prior to this, and these are often reported as his final words.
Strike the tent.
Who: Robert E. Lee
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
"I'm shot, I'm shot."
Who: John Lennon, after being shot by Mark David Chapman in front of Lennon's New York apartment building. Others suggest he said "Yeah" as his last word, when the police taking him in the back of their car to the hospital asked if he was John Lennon.
Allah, save this country! Pakistan zindabad!
Who Liaquat Ali Khan , first Prime Minister of Pakistan, spoke to the nation after being shot.
Translation: "Pakistan zindabad" means "long live Pakistan."
Don't let me die, I have got so much to do.
Who: Huey Long, "The Kingfish", American politician, Governor of and Senator from Louisiana
Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours.
Translation: I am going, but the State shall always remain.
Who: Louis XIV of France
[edit]
M
Boy, fetch my fiddle.
Who: Robert Roy MacGregor.
[Niece: "What is the matter, Uncle James?"] Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear. I always talk better lying down.
Who: James Madison
Mozart! Mozart!
Who: Gustav Mahler, according to his wife, Alma.
Die my dear, why that's the last thing I'll do
Who: Groucho Marx
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
When I am dead, you will find Philip and Calais engraved on my heart.
Who: Mary I of England, related to her husband and the loss of Calais to France
It's all been rather lovely.
Who: John Le Mesurier, before slipping into a final coma.
I told you I was ill.
Who: Spike Milligan. They are not his final words, but they are the words he wanted as his epitaph. An Irish translation does appear on his headstone ("Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite.").
I don't think they even heard me.
Who: Yukio Mishima (pseudonym of Kimitake Hiraoka), moments before committing ritual suicide (seppuku)
Note: He had addressed the garrison at the Eastern Command of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (while his followers held the Commander hostage), encouraging them to launch a military coup and restore the Emperor to his rightful place. They responded with mocking jeers. Mishima shouted "Long Live the Emperor!" three times, went back inside, and spoke his last words under his breath.
It tastes bad.
Margaret Mitchell, upon being given a drink of orange juice while convalescing in a hospital
Shoot me in the chest!
Who: Benito Mussolini to his executioner.
But, but, Mr. Captain...
Who: Also attributed to Mussolini, just as he was shot by a partisan leader.
Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise
Who: Andrew Mutton. (A Mobster who's car was riddled with starter motor problems, remarked to his associate when the car started successfully first go, moments later a bomb rigged to the ignition exploded, killing Andrew and wounding his associate)
If you don't like it, you can just **** off!
Who: Keith Moon, to his girlfriend, after requesting that she cook him steak for breakfast.
Don't make a mess of it - 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.
We all get the same amount of ice. The rich get it in the summer. The poor get it in the winter.
Who: Bat Masterson
[edit]
N
Thank God I have done my duty.
Who: British Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson; This is recorded definitively in an account by Nelsons ship's surgeon, Dr William Beatty. That Nelson said "Kiss me, Hardy" in his last hours, after being mortally wounded is extensively documented in contemporary accounts, including that of people actually present. That they were not his actual last words is also extensively documented, though not as clearly in many popular accounts, and they have commonly been mistaken as being his last words. (for more on this see: Talk:Horatio Nelson)
Sero. Haec est fides.
Translation: It is too late. This is fidelity.
Who: Nero, Roman emperor.
Some accounts also have his last words as being "What an artist that dies in me"
[edit]
O
I am just going outside. 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 decreasing his companions' chances of survival. Oates voluntarily left the tent, It was his 32nd birthday. He was never seen again.
¿Para qué? Estoy bien al nivel de los fusiles..
Translation: Why? I'm right at the height of the rifles.
Who: Melchor Ocampo, Mexican politician, known for his anticlerical ideas
Ocampo was rounded up by conservative rebels and sentenced to death. He spoke these words after his executioner ordered him to kneel.
This isn't Hamlet, you know. It's not meant to go into the bloody ear.
Who: Actor Lawrence Olivier supposedly said this when a nurse, attempting to moisten his lips, mis-aimed.
Note: In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the title character's father is killed when poison is dripped into his ear while asleep.
[edit]
P
I will see you tomorrow, if God wills it.
Who: Pope John Paul I, an hour before he died of a heart attack.
Hurry up, you Hoosier bastard, I could kill ten men while you're fooling around!.
Who: Carl Panzram, serial killer, shortly before he was executed by hanging.
I know not what tomorrow will bring.
Who: Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet
Note: Fernando Pessoa, who was bilingual, wrote his words in English, after losing the ability to speak.
Drink to me!
Who: Pablo Picasso
Запрягайте сани, хочу ехать к сестре.
Translation: Get the sledge ready, I want to go to my sister.
Peter II of Russia, Russian emperor
Note: His sister, Natalia, has died 14 months before him.



I think I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies.
William Pitt the younger. It was put about that his last words were "Oh, my country! How I leave my country!" (sometimes "How I love my country").
Lord help my poor soul.
Who: Edgar Allan Poe
Me l'aspettavo.
Translation: I expected it to happen
Pino Puglisi, Italian priest shot by a Mafia assassin
Note: Pino Puglisi was reported to have smiled to his killer.
[edit]
Q
[edit]
R
Je m'en vais chercher un grand peut-être.
Translation: I am off in search of the great perhaps.
Who: François Rabelais
Variant Translation: I am off in search of a great may-be.
Beati qui in domino moriuntur
Translation: Blessed are those who die in the Lord or Blessed are those who die wearing a cloak.
Note: Rabelais is also attributed these last words. He is said to have stated the quote, which is a Latin pun, after wrapping himself in his domino, a Spanish hooded cloak
I have a terrible headache.
Who: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage
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.
It is also interesting to note the last thing he saw before he died were the words "Six Feet Under" in a book he was reading.
Please put out the light.
Who: Theodore Roosevelt (January 6, 1919)
Me mudda did it.
Who: Arnold Rothstein, a.k.a. Mr. Big, when asked who shot him
[edit]
S
Put out the bloody cigarette!!
Who: Saki
Note: Spoken to a fellow officer while in a trench during World War One, for fear the smoke would give away their positions. He was then shot by a German sniper who had heard the remark.
Dear World, I am leaving you because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool - good luck. (suicide note)
Who: George Sanders, Actor
God Bless, God Damn!"
Who: Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
Note: Santa Anna was known to spend many long hours trying to decide what his last words would be; one can only speculate if this is what he intended to say.
For God's sake look after our people.
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 his absolute final 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. Apparently his last words were "All right, my man; go to your place," in response to a soldier telling him that he preferred to duck when being shot at, even from a great distance. - (External link: Death of General John Sedgwick)
Dying is easy, comedy is hard.
Who: George Bernard Shaw
Note: Said on his death bed.
Put me back on the bloody bike.
Who: Tom Simpson
Note: Tom Simpson was a cyclist who died on the Mont Ventoux, probably because of a combination of amphetamines, alcohol and the heat.
I'm losing.
Who: Frank Sinatra (May 14, 1998)
Note: According to his daughter Nancy Sinatra, as told to Variety magazine senior columnist, Army Archerd.
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.
Y'all watch this!
Who: Robby Smothers
Note: This is known as "The Redneck's Favorite Last Words". They were Smothers' after he placed several firecrackers in his mouth and lit them simultaneously.
My God, what's happened?
Who: Diana, Princess of Wales, 31 August 1997 (after being mortally wounded in a car accident)
Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius. Will you remember to pay the debt?
Who: Socrates
Note: Asclepius was a Greek god of healing (his shrine is on the side of the Acropolis). It seems to many that Socrates considered death to be a relief, and thus was thanking the god for the service of killing him.
There will be a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!
Who: August Spies, anarchist Haymarket martyr, prior to his hanging.
What is the answer? [no response] In that case, what is the question?
Who: Gertrude Stein, spoken to Alice B. Toklas.
¡Carajo, un balazo!
Translation: Damn! A bullet!
Who: Antonio José de Sucre, after being shot while riding his horse in the jungle in Colombia on his way home. He was said to be a fine gentleman who had never cursed until that day. According to Ricardo Palma's "Tradiciones en Salsa Verde" (Carajo is a slang word for a man's sexual organ).
That tastes good.
Who:Sadako Sasaki, Hiroshima child atomic bomb victim while tasting her tea before she died in her sleep at age of 12.
Es Lebe Die Freiheit!
Translation: Long live freedom!
Who: Hans Scholl, German anti-Hitler resistance movement (The White Rose) leader.
His last words from the guillotine when he was executed 2/22/1943 for high treason.
[edit]
T
Die, my dear doctor, that's the last thing I shall do!
Who: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you.
Who: Mother Teresa (Sept 5, 1997)
Notes: Sister Nirmala Joshi recalled, "Just hours before her death, Mother Teresa spoke about the Little Flower, St. Therese. She has just been declared a ‘Doctor of the Church’ by Pope John Paul II. Her last words are: "Can you imagine, for doing little things with great love, the Church is making her a Doctor, like St. Augustine and the big St. Teresa! It is just like Jesus said in the Gospel to the one who was seated in the lowest place: "Friend, come up higher."
Pity me not. I die as a man of honour ought, in discharge of my duty. They indeed are objects of pity who fight against their king, their country, and their oath.
Who: Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (April 30, 1524)
Notes: Le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, died of an arquebus shot to the back in battle with the Spaniards. He was propped up against a tree and, for want of a crucifix, he was confessed with his sword. Even the enemy commander attended him at his death.
I just had eighteen straight scotches. I think that's the record...After thirty-nine years, this is all I've done.
Who: Dylan Thomas
No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax — This won't hurt.
Who: Hunter S. Thompson(1937-2005),suicide note
Mihi vita immerenti eripitur; neque enim extat ullum meum factum paenitendum expecto dumtaxat uno.
Translation: I deserve not death, but I repent nothing else in my life except for one thing.
Who: Titus, Roman Emperor
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.
It's in God's hands now.
Who: Nat Turner, immediately before he was hanged.
[edit]
U
God will save me, if he exists!
Who: An unidentified 45 year-old Ukrainian man of Azerbaijani origin
In 2006, a man in a Kiev, Ukraine zoo shouted these words, then lowered himself by rope into the lion enclosure, took off his shoes, and walked towards the lions. The people watched in horror as a lioness knocked him down and severed his carotid artery, killing him instantly. [1]
[edit]
V
Dou o primeiro passo no caminho da eternidade, e saio da vida para entrar na história.
Translation: I take the first step in the path of eternity and I leave life to enter History.
Who: Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, Brazilian president, on his suicide note.
All right then, I'll say it: Dante makes me sick.
Who: Lope de Vega, famous playwright, on being assured that the end was very near.
La Révolution est comme Saturne : elle dévore ses propres enfants.
Translation: The revolution is like Saturn: It's devouring its own children.
Who: Pierre Vergniaud, French revolutionary
Vae, puto deus fio. (when he thought he was dying)
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
[edit]
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.
Who: George Washington, first President of the United States
I'm all right.
Who: H. G. Wells
Can't get enough of your love, baby.
Who: Barry White
Why yes, A bulletproof vest
Who: Domonic Willard
Notes: Willard was a small time foot soldier during the Prohibition just before his death by firing squad, he was asked if he had any last requests.
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.
Popular variation often found in "Famous Last Words"-lists: "Either the wallpaper goes, or I do."
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."
Can this last long?.
Who: William III of England, when his doctor told him that he was ill.
Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, ayez pitié de mon âme et de ce pauvre peuple.
Translation: My Lord, my Lord, have pity upon my soul and these poor people.
Who: William the Silent
Oh, what's the bloody point?
Kenneth Williams, British actor and raconteur. This was the final entry in his diary.
The act of taking my own life is not something I am doing without a lot of thought. I don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society should have. For me much of the world makes no sense, but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a place where there is no self, only calm. Love always, Wendy. (suicide note)
Who: Wendy O. Williams, Punk Rocker, Lead vocalist for the Plasmatics.
Tell them I had a wonderful life.
Who: Ludwig Wittgenstein
[edit]
X
Brothers! Brothers, please! This is a house of peace!
Who: Malcolm X
Note: Two men were staging a fight in the audience he was addressing to distract attention from assassins who were drawing their guns to shoot him.
[edit]
Y
[edit]
Z
You give me electric chair. I no afraid of that chair! You one of capitalists. You is crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care! Get to hell out of here, you son of a ***** [spoken to the attending minister]... I go sit down all by myself... Viva Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere!... Lousy capitalists! No picture! Capitalists! No one here to take my picture. All capitalists lousy bunch of crooks. Go ahead. Pusha da button!
Who: Giuseppe Zangara
"Already?"
Who: Hangquin Zhou
Curtain! Fast music! Light! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show looks good, the show looks good!
Who: Florenz Ziegfeld, Showman
Note: He shouted these words in a delirium on his deathbed.
[edit]
See also
Epitaphs
Fictional last words




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Answer 4

Be a kid all over again! When eating out, order a new child’s sandwich, pizza or burger. Then you can have the treats you're keen on, while reducing your portions and cutting your calorie intake.

Answer 5

Keep a modest water glass, which you must refill often, instead of a large water bottle on your cubical.

Answer 6

"Frankly my dear I don't give a damn"
(1939's Gone With The Wind)

"I'll be back"
(1984's The Terminator)

"There's no place like home"
(1939's The Wizard of Oz)

Answer 7

Cherokee Bill was asked if he had anything to say before his execution (fort Smith , Arkansas). He reportedly said , "Hell no, I didn't come here to talk; I came here to get hung!".

Answer 8

"I have one regret: That I have but one life to give for my country." A rebel just before he was hanged by the British during the Revolution.

Answer 9

Drink lots of water. (You'll stand up for refills and trips on the bathroom. )

Answer 10

Enroll in an active skill class, such as sculpture or ceramics.

Answer 11

1