I have a fascination with Last Words, and I have accumulated a rather ecclectic collection of them. An individual’s last words are often their most beautiful, their most poignant, the funniest, the most heart-rending. The last words are often infused with the most life:
“Is someone hurt?”
-Robert Kennedy, directly after he was shot, seconds before he slipped into a coma.
“I’m losing.”
-Frank Sinatra
“Beautiful.”
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning, replying to her husband, who asked how she felt.
“Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”
-Steve Jobs
“Lord help my poor soul.”
-Edgar Allen Poe
“It is very beautiful over there.”
-Thomas Edison
Go away. I’m all right.”
-H. G. Wells
“I am not the least afraid to die.”
-Charles Darwin
“A king should die standing.”
-Louis XVIII, King of France
“Oh God, have pity on my soul. Oh God, have pity on my soul.”
(This is disputed, some sources claim the following to be the last words)
“The executioner is, I believe, very expert, and my neck is very slender.”
-Anne Boleyn
"But I always think the best way to know God is to love many things."
“I shall never get rid of this depression.”
-Vincent Van Gogh
“Friends, applaud. the comedy is finished.”
(Also disputed. Possibly the following:)
“I shall hear in heaven.”
-Beethoven
“Let’s roll.”
-Todd Beamer
“Suppose, suppose…”
-Wyatt Earp
“Hmm…this is funny…”
-Doc Holliday
“Everybody has difficult years, but a lot of times the difficult years end up being the greatest years of your whole entire life, if you survive them.”
“Mom, I’m dying.”
-Brittany Murphy
“50-50.”
-Lou Gehrig
“Goodnight, my kitten.”
-Ernest Hemingway, to his wife, before he committed suicide.
“I don’t know. Surprise me.”
-Bob Hope, to his wife, who had asked him where he wanted to be buried.
“I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.”
-Joe DiMaggio
“Please don’t leave me. Please, don’t leave me.”
-Chris Farley, speaking to a prostitute as she stood to leave his hotel room.
“I love you too, honey. Good luck with your show.”
-Desi Arnaz, to Lucille Ball
"I was born when you kissed me. I died when you left me. I lived a few weeks while you loved me."
“I should have switched from scotch to martinis.”
-Humphrey Bogart
“Am I dying or is it my birthday?”
-Lady Nancy Astor, looking at the group that had gathered at her bedside.
“Codiene. Bourbon.”
-Tallulah Bankhead
“That was the best ice cream sode I ever tasted.”
-Lou Costello
“I’m bored with it all.”
-Winston Churchill
“My God. What happened?”
-Princess Diana
“I must go in. The fog is rising.”
-Emily Dickinson
“I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.”
-Thomas Hobbes
“Josephine…”
-Napoleon Bonaparte
"These poems, with all their crudities, doubts, and confusions, are written for the love of Man and in praise of God, and I'd be a damn' fool if they weren't."
“I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies. I think that’s the record.”
-Dylan Thomas
“I love you Sarah. For all eternity, I love you.”
-James K. Polk, to his wife Sarah.
“I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”
-Leonardo DaVinci
“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.”
-Oscar Wilde
"A Christian is nothing but a sinful man who has put himself to school for Christ for the honest purpose of becoming better."
“It is finished.”
The biblical accounts are unclear which were Christ’s final words before His death. John 19:30 records the above sentence. Luke 23:46 reads,
“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.”
His last words after His resurrection and before His ascension:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt. 28: 18-20
-Jesus Christ
”Now comes the mystery.”
-Henry Ward Beecher
“I still live.”
-Daniel Webster