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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 ). This article refers only to last words of persons who actually lived or are believed to have actually lived. Last words of fictional characters can be found in Fictional last words .
Who: Peter Abelard , a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician.
No comment.
I did what I could.
Who: Edward Abbey , an American author and essayist.
Note: The first quote was a response as to whether he had any last words. (The epitaph on his memorial stone was "No Comment".) The second is an alternative as noted in the reference work Last Words of Notable People citing Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist: The Life and Legacy of Edward Abbey by James Bishop.
Brahms, William B. (2010). Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 1. ISBN 978-09765325-2-1 .
 ;
Bishop, James. (2010). Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist: The Life and Legacy of Edward Abbey. New York: Atheneuem . ISBN 978-06891219-5-1 .
 .
Van Halen!
Who: Darrell Abbott A.K.A Dimebag Darrel, former guitarist of Pantera and Damageplan.
Note: Said while playing with Damageplan at a club minutes before he was shot and killed onstage.
Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, finish in me the work that Thou hast begun; into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me. O God of truth, save me Thy servant, who hopes and confides in Thee alone; let Thy mercy, O Lord, be shewn unto me; in Thee have I trusted, O Lord, let me not be confounded for ever.
Who: Robert Abbott , English prelate.
Note: Last Words of Notable People citing The life of Dr. George Abbot, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury by Arthur Onslow (Guildford, England, 1777).
Brahms, William B. (2010). Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 1. ISBN 978-09765325-2-1 .
 .
May the Most High God preserve thee from destruction, and from all the paths of error may He deliver thee.
Who: Abraham , first of the three patriarchs of Judaism.
It's okay! Gun's not loaded… see?
Who: Johnny Ace , 1950s rhythm and blues singer.
Note: Ace was playing Russian roulette (or something similar; exact accounts vary) with his revolver on Christmas Day 1954, during a backstage break in his concert that day. Contrary to Ace's assertion, there was a bullet in the chamber, which, when he pulled the trigger with the barrel of the gun to his face, killed him instantly.
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 fried potatoes?" After answering the question he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Note: Last Words of Notable People citing Het refrein is hein: Leven en sterven in een verpleeghuis by B. Keizer
Brahms, William B. (2010). Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 3. ISBN 978-09765325-2-1 .
 ;
Keizer, Bert (1997). Het refrein is hein: Leven en sterven in een verpleeghuis. Amsterdam: Nijmegen . ISBN 978-90616862-1-7 .
 .
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 , 2nd President of the United States.
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, i.e.: "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, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
This is the last of Earth! I am content!
Who: John Quincy Adams , 6th President of the United States.
Note: John Quincy Adams suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on the floor of the U.S Capitol Building, as he had become a U.S. Representative from the 11th District of Massachusetts after his presidency. He died several days later.
As quoted in The Truly Great: A Discourse Appropriate to the Life and Character of John Quincy Adams (1848) by Edwin Hubbell Chapin and "Illness and Death of John Quincy Adams" (Little's Living Age, No. 201, March 18, 1848), citing an account published in The New York Courier and Enquirer, February 25, 1848 and other sources.
Brahms, William B. (2010). Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 6. ISBN 978-09765325-2-1 .
 .
See in what peace a Christian can die.
Who: Joseph Addison , writer, d. June 17, 1719.
Note: Spoken to his stepson, the Earl of Warwick.
As quoted in Conjectures on Original Composition: In a Letter to the Author of Sir Charles Grandison (1759) by Edward Young and Samuel Richardson.
Variation: I have sent for you to see how a Christian can die.
As quoted in A New Biographical Dictionary: Containing a Brief Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons and Remarkable Characters in Every Age and Nation (1805) by Stephen Jones.
Variations of Addison's last words compared and discussed.
Brahms, William B. (2010). Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 7. ISBN 978-09765325-2-1 .
 .
The bastards tried to come over me last night. I guess they didn't know I was a Marine.
Who: Private First Class Edward H. Ahrens
Note: During the Battle of Tulagi , Private Ahrens was mortally wounded while single-handedly fighting back a group of Japanese soldiers attempting to infiltrate Allied lines. After his superior officer discovered Ahrens the next morning surrounded by dead Japanese troops, he whispered these words and died.
שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד (Shema Yisrael Adona-i Elokaynu Adona-i Echad)
Translation: Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is One!
Who: Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph (Akiva)
Note: These words (the Shema, from Deuteronomy 6:4) were stated as R. Akiba was being flayed by a Roman executioner for his continuing to teaching the Torah, despite the Roman prohibition on doing so (Talmud Berachot 61b). Because of R. Akiba, it is customary for Jews to recite the Shema as their last words.
Is it not meningitis?
Who: Louisa May Alcott , an American novelist and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women.
Note: Alcott had been in ill health for many years and took a turn for the worse after she visited her father. She did not have meningitis. She may have died of mercury poisoning, the after-effect of an earlier treatment for typhoid fever.
Brahms, William B. (2010). Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 12. ISBN 978-09765325-2-1 .
 .
As quoted in Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals (1805) by Ednah D. Cheney.
You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.
Who: Alex , African Grey Parrot used in comparative psychology research at Brandeis University.
Note: Spoken to his handler, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, when she put him in his cage for the night; he was found dead the next morning. This wasn't said due to Alex's knowledge of his impending death, but simply because that was what Alex said to Pepperberg every night before being locked in his cage.
" Milestones ". Time : p. 24. 24 September 2007 . Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 
To the strongest!
Who: Alexander III of Macedon , King of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty.
In response to his generals asking the heirless Alexander which one of them would get control of the empire.
Note: 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: Alexander II of Russia
Note: His guards heard him utter this phrase when they found his maimed body under a seat from his carriage after he was attacked with bombs by anarchists in an assassination attempt. He lost his left leg and was taken home where he died hours after his wound.
Wait a minute…
Note: His last words have also reported to have been: Va bene, va bene, arrivo. Aspettate un momento. (Ok, ok, I'll come. Just give it a moment.)
Clasp my hand, dear friend, I am dying.
Who: Vittorio Alfieri , was an Italian dramatist and poet, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy."
I'm in no pain. No pain. Don't cry for me, Rahaman. I'm going to be with Allah. I made peace with God, I'm okay… Rahaman, how do I look?
Who: Muhammad Ali
Note: Rahaman Ali, a former heavyweight boxer, was Muhammad Ali's younger brother.
As quoted in "Muhammad Ali told family he was 'in no pain and going to Allah'" by Nick Allen, The Telegraph (4 June 2016)
I'm sorry, boys, I'm all wet.
Who: Gracie Allen , wife and comedy partner of George Burns .
Sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society. Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers! These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
Who: Salvador Allende , was a Chilean physician and politician. d. September 11, 1973.
Note: Last speech given before he committed suicide before the military forces entered the La Moneda palace when the 1973 coup d'etat took place.
June 3. Cold Harbor. I was killed.
Who: Union Soldier
Note: Found in a blood-spattered diary on the body of a Union soldier on June 3rd, 1864. [1]
Don't ask me how I am! I understand nothing more.
Who: Hans Christian Andersen , Danish author of The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Snow Queen, and The Princess and the Pea.
I pray you to bear me witness that I meet my fate like a brave man.
Who: Major John André , a British Army officer.
Note: According to James Thatcher's book The American Revolution, André raised the handkerchief from his eyes and said these words when given an opportunity to speak, moments before he was hanged as a British spy.
Pardonnez-moi, monsieur. Je ne l'ai pas fait exprès.
Translation: Pardon me, sir. I did not do it on purpose.
Who: Marie Antoinette , Queen of France and Archduchess of Austria.
Note: As she approached the guillotine, convicted of treason and about to be beheaded, she accidentally stepped on the foot of her executioner.
Aequanimitas.
Note: When tribune of the night watch came to ask for the password.
Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel.
Who: George Appel , executed by electric chair in 1928.
Mennyi az idő? Különben mindegy…
Translation: What is the time? Never mind, it's not important…
Who: János Arany , Hungarian poet.
Μη μου τους κύκλους τάραττε (Mè mou tous kuklous taratte)
Translation: Don't disturb my circles!
Alternate: Don't disturb my equation.
Who: Archimedes , an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer.
Note: 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, despite specific instructions not to, resulting in his execution.
Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards.
Who: Willem Arondeus , Dutch artist and writer, member of the Anti-Nazi resistance.
Note: He led a group in bombing the Amsterdam Public Records Office, destroying thousands of files to prevent the Nazis from identifying Jews. Within a week, Arondeus and the other members of the group were arrested. Twelve, including Arondeus, were executed by firing squad.
Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears as so much straw.
Who: Thomas Aquinas , an immensely influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism.
Let me die in the old uniform in which I fought my battles for freedom, May God forgive me for putting on another.
Who: Benedict Arnold , a general during the American Revolutionary War.
Note: He wanted to wear his old Continental Army uniform.
I love you too, honey. Good luck with your show.
Who: Desi Arnaz , an American musician, actor, television producer, writer and director.
Note: He was speaking on the telephone to his former wife Lucille Ball, regarding her upcoming (and ultimately final) TV series, Life with Lucy .
The ladies have to go first. Goodbye, dearie. I'll see you later.
Who: John Jacob Astor IV , an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family.
Note: The accuracy of this report is disputed. Astor and his wife were traveling on the Titanic when it struck an iceberg and began to sink. As Astor prepared to enter a lifeboat with his wife, a group of female passengers appeared on deck. He gave up his seat and spoke his final words to his wife; he was later found floating in the ocean, dead.
Am I dying, or is this my birthday?
Who: Lady Nancy Astor , an American-born English socialite.
Note: In her final illness, she awoke on her deathbed to see her family at her bedside.
Saat kaç?
Translation: What time is it?
Who: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , a Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey.
Note: Before he fell into a coma on November 6th, he had asked his friends "What time is it?".
Nostri coniugii memor vive, ac vale.
Translation: Live mindful of our marriage, and farewell.
Who: Emperor Augustus , founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor.
Note: His last words in public as reported by Suetonius were the more famous "Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble."
I want nothing but death.
Who: Jane Austen , an English novelist known principally for her five major novels which interpret, critique and comment upon the life of the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century.
Note: In response to her sister Cassandra who had asked her if she wanted something.
As quoted in Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History (2010) by William B. Brahms which discusses a letter from Cassandra to her niece Fannie Knight after the death of Jane Austen on July 18, 1817. Brahms notes the letter is reprinted in Letters of Jane Austen (1884) by Jane Austen.
I ask you all to forgive me. I ask the people of Samford to forgive me. I ask my mother to forgive me. May you all live long and die happy. God save the King! God save the King! God be with you all! Send a wire to my mother and tell her I died happy, won’t you. Yes tell her I died happy with no fear. Goodbye all! Goodbye all!
B[ edit ]
Had you believed in Me, O wayward generation, every one of you would have followed the example of this youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and willingly would have sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you.
Who: The Báb , founder of Bábism, and one of three central figures of the Bahá'í Faith.
Note: His final words were shouted at the spectating crowd during His execution by a firing squad. The words "this youth" refer to the young Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, who was being executed along with Him.
My name and memory I leave to man's charitable speeches, to foreign nations, and to the next age.
Who: Francis Bacon , Renaissance scientist.
Oh God, here I go!
Who: Max Baer , American boxer.
Note: Spoken after a fatal heart attack.
My Florida water.
Who: Lucille Ball , an American actress, comedian, model, film studio executive and producer.
Note: Her response when asked if she wanted anything.
Oh, you young people act like old men. You have no fun.
Who: Josephine Baker , an American-born French dancer, jazz and pop music singer, and actress.
Note: The famed starlet was reportedly attempting to seduce a man several decades younger than she was. She died of a stroke later that night.
I'm in the hands of Jesus…
Who: Tammy Faye Messner , a American Christian singer, evangelist, entrepreneur, author, talk show host, and television personality.
Note: As told by her husband Roe Messner on CNN's Larry King Live. Roe was with Tammy Faye at the moment of her death.
Codeine…bourbon…
Who: Tallulah Bankhead , an American actress of the stage and screen, and a reputed libertine.
Note: Her response when asked if she wanted anything.
I would rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty.
Who: Alben W. Barkley , former Vice President of the United States, who suffered a fatal heart attack.
How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?
Who: P. T. Barnum , circus entrepreneur.
I can't sleep.
Who: J.M. Barrie , author of works including Peter Pan.
Is everybody happy? I want everybody to be happy. I know I'm happy.
Who: Ethel Barrymore , an American actress regarded as the "First Lady of the American Theater."
Note: Spoken to her housekeeper before her passing.
Die, I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.
Who: John Barrymore , an American actor on stage, screen and radio.
Now I can cross the Shifting Sands.
Note: Baum was referring to the Shifting Sands, the impassable desert surrounding the Land of Oz.
Are you guys ready? Let's roll.
Who: Todd Beamer , passenger on United Flight 93, September 11, 2001.
Note: These are his last recorded words, coming at the end of a cell phone call before Beamer and others attempted to storm the airliner's cockpit to retake it from hijackers who were part of the 9/11 terrorist attacks . The plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Rain had always been a harbinger of tragedy for me.
Who: George Beard, an American neurologist who popularized the term neurasthenia.
Note: His death occurred during a rainstorm.
Who: Joséphine de Beauharnais , first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte .
I am thinking of earlier times.
Who: Ludwig Beck , German general, committing suicide after the failed attempt to kill Hitler, 20 July 1944.
[to his killers] If all the swords in England were pointed against my head, your threats would not move me.
I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.
Who: Thomas Becket , Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 1170.
Now comes the mystery.
Who: Henry Ward Beecher , evangelist, d. March 8, 1887.
Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.
Translation: Applaud, my friends, the comedy is finished.; the formula traditionally used to end a performance of commedia dell'arte.
Who: Ludwig van Beethoven , German composer.
Note: His final words are subject to historical debate, and vary with many biographies. Among those that have been reported to be his 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.
[Upon the arrival from his publisher of 12 bottles of wine] Pity, pity. Too late.
Another biographer has him saying nothing; simply shaking his fists defiantly at the heavens as a thunderstorm raged outside his window.
Maybe they only had one rocket?
Who: Lawrence Beeter , WWII British soldier.
Note: He was taking cover in a bunker after they were hit by a rocket. A second volley destroyed the bunker and Beeter was killed.
Todo mortal…
Translation: All mortal…
Who: Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer , a Spanish post-romanticist poet and writer, also a playwright, literary columnist, and talented in drawing.
Note: He was delirious because of high fever and illness.
No.
Who: Alexander Graham Bell , a Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone.
Note: While Alexander Graham Bell was dying, his deaf wife whispered to him, "Don't leave me." Bell responded by signing the word, "No."
Just don't leave me alone.
Who: John Belushi , an American comedian, actor, and musician.
And where do you come from?
Who: Isaiah Berlin , a Latvian-British social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas.
Note: To the nurse caring for him. Hardy, Henry (2001). "Review of The Legacy of Isaiah Berlin" . The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library.
I'll need it.
Who: Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg , Swedish diplomat and nobleman.
Note: In response as he drove away after he inspected a bullet in his vehicle's wheel and a newspaper man shouted "Good luck!"
This time it will serve me for the voyage from which there is no return, the voyage of eternity.
Who: Claude Bernard , a French physiologist.
Note: Spoken when he began to feel cold and a cover was placed on his feet.
Never fear; if you will but have patience I don't doubt we shall get through; but take care how you ever get in such a scrape again.
Who: Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet , a British colonial administrator who served as governor of the provinces of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay.
Don't die like I did.
Who: George Best, a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team.
Note: Best died as a result of a lung infection and multiple organ failure caused by years of alcoholism.
Dear God. Dear God. Why is this happening? I just want to go home.
Who: Cassie Bernall , victim of the Columbine High School massacre .
Note: According to Emily Wyant, a close friend of Cassie's, she was heard praying in these last words before Eric Harris yelled "Peek-a-boo!" and fatally shot her in the face. This account disproves the myth that Bernall said "yes" to Dylan Klebold before he shot her dead (it was actually Valeen Schnurr who got terribly shot before being asked by Klebold if she believed in God and surviving the whole ordeal). [2]
How slow my death agony is.
Who: Sarah Bernhardt , a French stage and early film actress.
O Lord, help me… for I am innocent.
Who: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Note: Said shortly before his hanging.
Dêem-me café, vou escrever!
Who: Olavo Bilac , Brazilian poet.
¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?
Translation: Who is it? Who is it?
Who: Billy the Kid, an American Old West gunfighter who participated in New Mexico's Lincoln County War.
I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart. I want to thank all of my family and friends for my prayers and who supported and believed in me. My Father, I'm being paroled to heaven. I will now spend all my holidays with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Peace be with you all. Amen.
Who: Kenneth Biros , first person executed by a one-drug lethal injection in Ohio on December 8, 2009.
Haus.
Translation: Home.; Literally: House.
Who: Otto von Bismarck, German statesmen, and Chancellor of Germany.
Note: Scrawled on a piece of paper; there is debate as to whether Bismarck meant to convey that he was returning to the afterlife or was simply delerious or intoxicated.
À moi!
Translation: Help!; Literally: To me!
Who: Sophie Blanchard , a French aeronaut and the wife of ballooning pioneer Jean-Pierre Blanchard .
Note: Blanchard, a balloonist, said these words when her balloon crashed, killing her.
D-Von, get the tables!
Who: "Classy" Freddie Blassie , a American professional wrestling villain and manager.
Note: In a guest appearance on WWE RAW, a wheelchair-bound Blassie, after being threatened, summoned wrestler D-Von Dudley to set up a table for a match against 3 Minute Warning. It was Blassie's final public appearance before dying three weeks later. Although these are technically not his last words, they are the last words the public heard him say.
Goodbye, kid. Hurry back.
Who: Humphrey Bogart , an American screen actor who performed in iconic 1940s films noir such as The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and The Big Sleep.
Note: The line was spoken to his wife, Lauren Bacall, as she left his bedside to pick up her children. She returned to find Bogart in a coma, from which he never regained consciousness.
Damn it! How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?
Who: Simon Bolivar , a Venezuelan military and political leader.
Note: His last words are also Recorded as "Fetch The Luggage, They do not want us here"
France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine.
Translation: France, Army, Head of the Army, Joséphine.
Who: Napoleon Bonaparte , French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century.
… and of Islam …
Who: Mohamed Boudiaf , President of Algeria d. 1992.
Note: He was conducting a televised speech in Arabic to an audience at a newly-opened cultural centre in Annaba, when his assassin struck. [3]
Ah, that tastes nice. Thank you.
Who: Johannes Brahms , a German composer and pianist.
Note: Spoken after he had a small glass of wine.
Surgite!
Who: General Sir Isaac Brock , British Army officer and administrator.
Note: Said after being shot by American sharpshooters during the Battle Of Queenston Heights .
Useless … useless …
Who: John Wilkes Booth , an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
Je vais ou je vas mourir, l'un et l'autre se dit ou se disent.
Translation : I am about to – or I am going to – die: either expression is correct.
Who: Dominique Bouhours , French grammarian.
I didn't murder the Hodges family. I've never murdered anybody. I'm going to my death with a clear conscience. I am going to my death having had a great life because of my two great sons, Mike and Doug.
Who: Earl Bramblett
Note: Spoken prior to his death in the state of Virginia's electric chair. Contrary to his claim, overwhelming evidence proved that he did indeed kill William Hodges, his wife Teresa and their two children Winter and Anah, ages 11 and 4.
No. I have no final statement.
Who: Lawrence Russell Brewer
Note: Executed for the murder of James Byrd, Jr.
Not bloody likely!
Who: Unknown British Sergeant
Note: Reportedly said during the last stand of the 44th Regiment of Foot, in response to an offer of surrender, shortly before their massacre by Afghan fighters at the Battle of Gandamak.
Sarah I miss and need you.
Who: Bobbi Kristina Brown , an American reality television and media personality, singer, and actress.
Note: Last known tweet to her friend Bess Beckmann before she went into a coma and died months later.
I'm going away tonight.
Who: Cliff Burton , bassist of Metallica
Note: After winning a game of cards that would determine who would get the first pick of bunks on the band's tour bus, Burton pointed at fellow band member Kirk Hammett and said the line above. Later, while he was sleeping, the bus flipped over and Burton was flown out of its window before it crushed him to death.
The corruption of the state shall fall. Governor Taft, you will not be re-elected. The rest of you, you know where you can go.
Note: Byrd told his family he loved them and that they should keep fighting the death penalty. [4]
Now I shall go to sleep. Goodnight.
Who: Lord Byron , British poet.
I went the distance.
Who: Steve Byrnes , an American television announcer and producer.
Note: Final words sent from a tweet.
By the Lord of the Ka'bah, I have been successful.
Who: Ali ibn Abi Talib , cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic caliphate from 656 to 661.
Note: This was spoken after being hit on the head with a poisoned sword, while leading the Morning Prayer, by Ibn Maljam, a fundamentalist.
Acta est fabula, plaudite! [Attributed]
Translation: The play is over, applaud!
Note: This is the phrase said at the end of Roman plays.
και συ τεκνον; (kai su, teknon?)
Translation: You too, my child?
Who: Julius Caesar
Note: Et tu, Brute is attributed to him by Shakespeare's famous play; his last words according to claims reported by Suetonius , were και συ τεκνον; (pronounced "Kai su, teknon?") which means "You too, my child?" in Greek, though his native tongue was Latin [De Vita Caesarum Liber I Divus Iulius, LXXXII]). Suetonius himself, however, actually discounts these claims, and asserts that Caesar said nothing as he died, apart from a groan. His definite last words according to Suetonius were instead, Ista, quidem vis est! (Why, this is violence!). In Shakespeare's play, there is a little more to the quote. The full quote is: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar." The entire quote means "Even [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, gave up all hope of salvation.
Vivo!
Translation: I live!
Who: Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), Roman Emperor, as he was being murdered by his own soldiers (as reported by Roman historian Tacitus ).
I can't see anything. I've got the bows up… I'm going! Uh–
Who: Donald Campbell , British speed record breaker who broke eight absolute world speed records.
Context: Final radio transmission from Bluebird K7 as she lifted from the surface of Conniston Water, flipped bow over stern and smashed to pieces on the lake surface in January 1967. Campbell was attempting to set a new world water speed record exceeding 300mph. His first run was 297mph. The crash occurred on the return run. Had he completed it, it would have been fast enough to set a record exceeding 300mph.
This is not the end of me.
Who: Henry Campbell-Bannerman , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Badly mishandled. Nose broken at last interrogation. My time is up. Was not a traitor. Did my duty as a German. If you survive, please tell my wife…
Who: Wilhelm Canaris , member of the July 20 plot , his last note before execution to the man in the cell next to him.
It's me, it's Buddy… I'm cold.
Who: Truman Capote , writer.
Note: 'Buddy' was Capote's aunt's nickname for him.
26th October last year, not 10 meters from where these men are now entombed, you had a 400-tonne rock fall. Why is it, is it the strength of the seam, or the wealth of the seam, that you continue to send men into work in such a dangerous environment?
Who: Richard Carleton , reporter for National Nine News .
Note: During a media conference that was held at Beaconsfield, Tasmania on 7 May 2006, Richard Carleton asked this question to Matthew Gill (mine manager of the Beaconsfield mine), in light of the Beaconsfield mine collapse . When Gill declined to answer the question, Carleton walked away and suffered a heart attack; he was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
So, this is death. Well!
Who: Thomas Carlyle , Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher.
I hope so.
Who: Andrew Carnegie , steel magnate and philanthropist.
Note: Spoken to his wife whom had bid him goodnight.
Milan: What a beautiful place to die.
Who: John Carradine , an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films, Westerns and Shakespearean theatre.
Note: He died from multiple organ failure at Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Milan, Italy at age 82. Hours before he was stricken, he had climbed the 328 steep steps of Milan's Gothic cathedral, the Duomo.
¡No abandonéis a mis indios!
Translation: Don't abandon my Indians!
Who: Felipe Carrillo Puerto , Mexican revolutionary, governor of Yucatán (executed)
I just wish I had time for one more bowl of chili.
Who: Kit Carson , American frontiersman.
Note: His final words have also been reported as "Adios, compadres."
I think I'll sleep now.
Who: George Washington Carver , an American botanist and inventor.
I have lived as a philosopher, and die as a Christian.
Who: Giacomo Casanova , an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice.
We got a bad fire! Let's get out - we're burning up…
Who: An Apollo 1 astronaut, probably Roger Chaffee . All three crew members perished in a launchpad fire, 1967.
You see, this is how you die.
Who: Coco Chanel , French fashion designer of women's clothes and founder of the Chanel brand.
Approaching dissolution brings relief.
Who: Neville Chamberlain , British prime minister.
Hello.
Who: Graham Chapman , Monty Python's comedian.
Note: Spoken to his adopted son who had just arrived at the hospital.
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.
You must pardon me, gentlemen, for being a most unconscionable time a-dying.
Who: Charles II , son of the above, 1685.
Ay Jesus.
Who: Charles V , Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Spain , d. 1558.
Why not? After all, it belongs to him.
Who: Comedian Charlie Chaplin , d. 1977, said this after a priest was reading him his last rites and said "May the lord have mercy on your soul".
Yo no quiero morir, por favor no me dejen morir.
Translation: I don't want to die. Please don't let me die.
Who: Hugo Chávez , President of Venezuela.
Note: Due to a severe respiratory infection, he was unable to speak for several days before his death. According to Venezuelan general Jose Ornella, he mouthed these words before suffering a massive heart attack and dying.
I haven't had champagne for a long time.
Who: Anton Chekhov , playwright, 1904.
Note: His doctor had given him champagne after all other attempts to ease the symptoms of death from tuberculosis failed.
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.
As this earth will suffocate me, I implore you to have my body opened so that I will not be buried alive.
Not any more.
Who: Montgomery Clift , actor.
Note: He was asked if he wanted to watch the movie "The Misfits" (in which he appeared) on TV.
Thank God. I'm tired of being the funniest person in the room.
Who: Del Close , improviser, teacher and comedian, d. 1999.
…it's better to burn out than to fade away.
Who: Kurt Cobain , an American musician who was best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Nirvana
Note: Cobain was quoting Neil Young lyrics when he wrote this line in his suicide note.  The full context of the note is available online .
Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking towards me, without hurrying.
Who: Jean Cocteau , French writer, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker.
I love you all.
Who: Natalie Cole , an American singer-songwriter, and actress.
Note: Spoken to her younger twin sisters.
I love you and my head hurts.
Who: Gary Coleman , an American actor, voice artist, and comedian.
Can you get a shot of this gun?
Who: Harry Collinson , Chief Planning Officer for Derwentside District Council.
Note: On 20 June 1991, Collinson was supervising the demolition of a bungalow that had been built by Albert Dryden without planning permission. Dryden produced an unlicensed pistol, and Collinson invited a BBC camera crew that were present to focus on it. Seconds later, Dryden opened fire, killing Collinson and injuring BBC reporter Tony Belmont and PC Stephen Campbell. Dryden was arrested after a stand-off, found guilty of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a tariff of 13 years.
More Weight.
I curse you Corwin and all of Salem!
Who: Giles Corey , while being crushed during the Salem witch trials because he would not answer the court.
Note: The first line was said while being crushed during the Salem Witch Trials for refusing to answer the court. After long hours of pain, Corey then uttered the second quote and died.
Lady, you shot me!
Who: Sam Cooke , after being shot to death at the Hacienda Motel (now the Star motel).
Good morning, Robert.
Who: Calvin Coolidge , 30th President of the United States, to a carpenter working on his home.
Coolidge is also said to have been quoted near his death: "I feel I no longer fit in with these times." Coolidge, a staunch fiscal conservative and small-government federalist, was at odds with incoming President Franklin Delano Roosevelt , whose New Deal marked a major expansion of the federal budget.
I am guilty. My sentence is just: I deserve my fate. And may God have mercy on my soul.
Who: William Corder , moments before he was hanged on August 11, 1828, for the murder of Maria Marten at the Red Barn.
Wie bent u?
Note: After being stabbed in the chest near the heart-area by unknown assassins, the old count asked who did it; on which the assassin replied: "Death."
Goodnight, my darlings, I'll see you tomorrow.
Who: Noel Coward , playwright. Died of natural causes.
Hello. We're looking in… we're overlooking the Financial Center. Three of us. Two broken windows. OH, GOD! OH-
Who: Kevin Cosgrove , a victim of the September 11 terrorist attacks . He was connected to a 9-1-1 dispatcher, and he said the above phrase when the South Tower collapsed after it'd been hit by one of the airplanes used in the attacks.
No, my pain is too much, Fazila.
I can't make it, I'm in too much pain.
Who: Jo Cox , British Labour Party politician
Note: Either one was spoken to her assistant, Fazila Aswat, after she tried to encourage Cox to stand after an attack. She later died of her injuries.
It don't matter; I figure I licked the Rock anyway.
Who: Bernard Coy , convicted criminal, shot while trying to escape Alcatraz prison (known as "The Rock")
Dammit! Don't you dare ask God to help me!
Note: This comment was directed towards her housekeeper who began to pray aloud.
That was a great game of golf, fellers.
Who: Bing Crosby , American singer and actor.
Note: 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.
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
Who: Crowfoot , chief of the Siksika First Nation.
I am confound.
(also quoted as I am perplexed.)
Who: Aleister Crowley . British occultist, mystic, poet, mountain climber.
This is open to debate, because some sources report Crowley dying alone, and others claim that he said Sometimes I hate myself. [6] [7]
You sons of bitches, give my love to Mother!
Who: Francis "Two Gun" Crowley , an American murderer and career criminal.
That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted.
Who: Louis Francis Cristillo , an American actor and comedian.
Note: Published newspapers reporting his death have him asking the nurse to move him onto his side, and report last words as being "I think I'll be more comfortable."
It's not real.
Note: Spoken regarding a toy gun he was holding, in the toy section of a Wal-Mart in Beavercreek, Ohio.
I don't want it.
Who: Marie Curie , Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist.
Note: She had been offered an injection to ease her pain.
Hurrah Boys! Let's get these last few reds then head on back to camp. Hurrah! [Attributed]
We've caught them napping! [Attributed]
Who: George Armstrong Custer , a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War.
I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people, the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime.
(through clenched teeth) I am sorry I could not see my father.
Who: Leon Czolgosz , assassin of US President William McKinley, electrocuted in 1901.
Note: He said the second line as he was being strapped on the electric chair.
You got me.
Who: John Dillinger , infamous American bank robber.
This may be an apocryphal quote. Dillinger died when a bullet passed through his brain, leaving him little opportunity for final speeches.
You know, I'm not frightened. It's just that I'll miss you all so much.
Ow, fuck!
Who: Roald Dahl , British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot.
Note: First line said to his family. He then appeared to have lost consciousness, and the nurse decided to inject him with a lethal dose of morphine to ease his passing. After she did, Dahl said the second line right before dying.
I don't care if I live or die. Go ahead and kill me.
Who: Jeffrey Dahmer , serial Killer.
Note: According to fellow prisoner Christopher Scarver, who admitted to beating Dahmer to death with a "preacher bar" (part of a weight machine), these were his last words.
Where is my clock?
Who: Salvador Dalí , a prominent Spanish surrealist painter
One last drink, please.
Who: Jack Daniel , an American distiller and businessman, the founder of the Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distillery.
My only regret is that I'm going before that rat, Robespierre! [to his executioner] Don't forget to show my head to the people; it's well worth seeing.
Who: Georges Danton , a leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety.
I am not the least afraid to die.
Who: Charles Darwin , an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory.
Well, first of all I'd like to address the MacPhail family. I'd like to let you all know, despite the situation -- I know all of you are still convinced that I'm the person that killed your father, your son and your brother, but I am innocent. The incident that happened that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun that night. I did not shoot your family member. But I am so sorry for your loss. I really am -- sincerely. All I can ask is that each of you look deeper into this case, so that you really will finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends that you all continue to pray, that you all continue to forgive. Continue to fight this fight. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on all of your souls. God bless you all.
Who: Troy Anthony Davis , high-profile death row inmate.
Notes: Davis was executed for the murder of Officer Mark Allen MacPhail by lethal injection in Georgia on September 21, 2011, despite serious doubts about his guilt that lingered on prior to his death. [8]
Damn!
Who: First Officer James Dillard
Note: During take-off of American Airlines Flight 191 , the Engine separated. Prior to the Black Box failing, Dillard was heard saying these words. Shortly afterward, the Plane crashed into the ground, killing all onboard including Dillard.
That guy's got to stop… He'll see us.
Who: James Dean , American actor.
Note: Words said before dying in a car accident.
Miss, I got what I really went for.
Who: Jeremy Wade Delle
Note: After this troubled teenager left his Texas classroom under the pretenses of obtaining a late pass, he returned with a gun, uttered these words, and committed suicide in front of his classmates. The incident was later immortalized in the Pearl Jam song "Jeremy."
Do you have it now?
Note: Spoken via cockpit radio after transmitting a four digit code. On October 12, 1997, Denver was killed when his Experimental Rutan Long-EZ plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Pacific Grove, California.
On the ground!
Note: 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.
I'm going to heaven.
Who: Bo Diddley as he lay dying on his deathbed with his family surrounding him.
I'll finally get to see Marilyn.
Who: Joe DiMaggio , talking about his former wife, Marilyn Monroe .
Kurt Russell.
Note: Scrawled on a piece of paper. To this day, nobody knows what he meant by it, not even Kurt Russell, who was 15 at the time.
This is the fish of my dreams.
Who: Dan Dodds
Note: Dodds had caught a 20-lb. salmon, the biggest fish of his life. He turned to a stranger, said this quote, then fell into the river and died of a heart attack. The salmon was barbecued and eaten at his wake.
But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptised of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Hear now—permit it. Do not restrain me!
Don't let them put me in one of those bags, I might suffocate.
Who: Darragh Doyle spoken before dropping a live grenade at Omaha Beach.
Hit the water, hit the water, hit the water!
Who: Jane Dornacker as she was giving a traffic report for radio station WNBC via helicopter. The helicopter stalled and plummeted into the Hudson River while Jane was still on the air, unintentionally broadcasting her final moments all across the metropolitan New York City area. The helicopter's other occupant was seriously injured, but survived.
Shakespeare, I come!
Who: Theodore Dreiser . 28 December 1945 (Stolen from Matthew Arnold.)
I don’t know why Marta Glass wasn’t allowed in here. I love you all. Keep the faith. Remember the death penalty is murder. They are taking the life of an innocent man. My attorney, Ron Kuley, will read my letter at a press conference after this is over. That is all I have to say. I love you all.
Who: Robert Drew, d. August 2, 1994.
Note: Executed by injection, Texas.
You are going to hurt me, please don't hurt me, just one more moment, I beg you!
Who: Madame du Barry
Do you hear the rain? Do you hear the rain?
Who: Jessica Dubroff , seven-year-old pilot speaking to her mother by telephone as the engines revved for takeoff, she (and her flight instructor) crashed minutes later in rough weather, April 11, 1996.
Adieu, mes amis, Je vais à la gloire!
Translation: Farewell my friends, I go to glory!
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.
Stopping for a beer, be there when I can.
Note: Final text sent to Jackass co-worker Bam Margera, before getting involved in a car crash that would claim his life.
Don't, don't, don't! This… this will hurt someone! Do not…
Who: R. Budd Dwyer , Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, before he placed the barrel of a .357 Magnum revolver into his mouth and pulled the trigger in front of TV news cameras that were videotaping what was originally presumed to be a press conference (Dwyer had been found guilty of accepting bribes, and professed his innocence to the literal last moments of his life. The press conference was held on what was to be the day before his sentencing). William Smith (the witness whose testimony was critical to Dwyer's conviction) said he lied under oath to get a lighter sentence.
Who: George Eastman
Note: Written in his suicide letter.
So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies.
Note: Final paragraph of his last public blog post, written two days before his passing.
It's very beautiful over there.
Who: Thomas Edison
Note: 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.
In einem kurzen Weilchen, meine Herren, sehen wir uns ohnehin alle wieder. Das ist das Los aller Menschen. Es lebe Deutschland. Es lebe Argentinien. Es lebe Österreich. […] Ich werde sie nicht vergessen.
Translation: In a short while, gentlemen, we'll meet each other, anyway. That's every human's fortune. Long live Germany! Long live Argentina! Long live Austria! […] I won't forget them.
Note: Before his execution on the 1st of June 1962 in Jerusalem.
Citater fra…
Who: Albert Einstein
Note: When Einstein died on April 18, 1955 he left a piece of writing ending in an unfinished sentence. These were his last words:
In essence, the conflict that exists today is no more than an old-style struggle for power, once again presented to mankind in semireligious trappings. The difference is that, this time, the development of atomic power has imbued the struggle with a ghostly character; for both parties know and admit that, should the quarrel deteriorate into actual war, mankind is doomed. Despite this knowledge, statesmen in responsible positions on both sides continue to employ the well-known technique of seeking to intimidate and demoralize the opponent by marshaling superior military strength. They do so even though such a policy entails the risk of war and doom. Not one statesman in a position of responsibility has dared to pursue the only course that holds out any promise of peace, the course of supranational security, since for a statesman to follow such a course would be tantamount to political suicide. Political passions, once they have been fanned into flame, exact their victims … Citater fra…
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 , 34th President of the United States.
Valerie.
Note: Valerie was the name of his wife at the time of his death.
Papa, I hate you.
Who: Carmen Ellis, a three-year-old girl, beaten to death by her mother's boyfriend.
Was ist mit mir geschehen?
Translation: What has happened to me?
Who: Elisabeth, Empress of Austria , stabbed to death on September 10, 1898.
All my possessions for a moment of time.
Who: Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. , actor, d. December 12, 1939
We've reached one of our phase lines after the fire fight and it smells bad – meaning it's a little bit suspicious…Could be an amb–
Notes: Dictated into his tape recorder before stepping on a landmine in Vietnam
[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.
[Robbie Farah: "Mum, do you love me?"] I love you all.
Who: Sonia Farah, mother of Australian rugby football player Robbie Farah
Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me.
Said to a prostitute as she left his hotel room following a weekend-long drug and sex binge. When she turned around, Chris Farley had collapsed.
Why aren't you filming this? This is what cancer is.
Note: Spoken to her friend Alana Stewart, who was filming a documentary about her struggles with cancer.
Es ist gar nichts… es ist gar nichts…
Translation: It is nothing… it is nothing…
Who: Franz Ferdinand Archduke of Austria-Hungary
Whispered to Count Harrach as the Archduke fell unconscious after being shot; he died shortly without ever regaining consciousness. His death in Sarajevo in 1914 triggered the outbreak of World War I.
Who: Millard Fillmore , 13th President of the United States.
Note: This was his response when his physician inquired about his food.
Nothing soothes pain like human touch.
Who: Chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer
Note: Said while dying of kidney failure.
If any of you have a message for the Devil, give it to me, for I am about to meet him!
Who: Lavinia Fisher , hanged for murder on February 18, 1820, while wearing her white wedding dress gown. [9]
Good enough. They'll be fine.
Who: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Note: His response when asked if he wanted anything besides Hershey bars.
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 .
Note: 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, perhaps the most known of which is "A boy has never wept…nor dashed a thousand kin" before finally dying.
I am sorry to trouble you chaps. I don't know how you get along so fast with the traffic on the roads these days.
Note: Spoken to the ambulance drivers.
I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've enjoyed every minute of it.
Note: At the gallows, Frank, one of the only two war criminals to show true remorse for his crimes during the Nuremberg trials and sentencing, quietly answered to his name and calmly said these words before he was hanged.
A dying man can do nothing easily.
Note: As he lay dying, his daughter suggested that if he lay on his side, he could breathe easier.
Throw a quilt over her.
Who: Frederick II of Prussia , who noticed his greyhound shivering and issued this order to his valet.
Das ist nicht wahr! Ich werde in der Montur sterben?
Translation: That's not true! I'm gonna die in this suit?
Who: Fredrik I of Sweden
Note: He probably meant the Holy Communion although one of the king's favourite activities was to eat.
Hey, fellas! How about this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? 'French Fries'!
Note: 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.
Tell Anna of our talk.
Note: Anna was Freud's daughter. Freud had been in agony for some months due to oral cancer and had previously discussed with his physician that he wished to be euthanized rather than endure prolonged suffering.
Please leave it.
Who: Werner von Fritsch
Why fear death? It's life's greatest adventure.
Who: Charles Frohman , As he stood on the deck of the sinking liner RMS Lusitania with French actress Rita Jolivet , he quoted this line from his friend, J.M. Barrie 's "Peter Pan" on the 7th May 1915 at 14:28pm.
Note: Charles Frohman was standing on deck when the torpedo struck the RMS Lusitania, and 18 minutes later, he was dragged under with the ship by the suction. During then, he saw Rita Jolivet on deck and asked her to hold on to the rail until they knew what to do. His friends escaped and so did Rita, but Charles was among the 1198 people who perished in the disaster.
She is squeezing my hand!
Who: Buckminster Fuller
Note: In the period leading up to his death, his wife had been lying comatose in a Los Angeles hospital, dying of cancer. It was while visiting her there that he exclaimed, at a certain point: "She is squeezing my hand!" He then stood up, suffered a heart attack and died an hour later. His wife died 36 hours after he did.
Note: Gacy's last words before being executed by lethal injection. The "rest" refers to the bodies of his other victims.
Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me!
Don't kill me, my sons!
What did I do to you? Do you know right from wrong?
What are you doing? It's haraam [forbidden]. It's not allowed in Islamic law. Haraam. What you are doing is forbidden in Islam!
Who: Muammar Gaddafi
Note: All of the above were allegedly heard as Gaddafi was dragged through the streets. As of the 23rd of October 2011, there is no officially accepted version of the death of Muammar Gaddafi
I'd like to thank my family for loving me and taking care of me. And the rest of the world can kiss my ass.
Who: Johnny Frank Garrett, Sr., d. February 11, 1992
Note: Executed by injection, Texas.
Hero! A real hero!
Let not my end disarm you, and on no account weep or keen for me, let the enemy be warned of my death.
Note: The first set of words were presumably Genghis Khan's last words according to legend, while the second set were supposed to have been spoken after he fell ill as his forces approached the Tangut capital of Ningxia.
Ne pleure pas, Alfred ! J'ai besoin de tout mon courage pour mourir à vingt ans !
Translation: Don't cry, Alfred! I need all my courage to die at twenty!
Note: Spoken to his brother Alfred after being fatally wounded in a duel.
Don't worry, relax!
Who: Rajiv Gandhi , Indian Prime Minister.
Note: To his security staff, allowing the suicide bomber to go near him as if to give flowers.
Hé Ram!
Translation: This is an exclamation to Ram (or Rama) , who in Hindu traditions is one of the manifestations of Vishnu . Hé Ram means "O! lord Ram!". (This is invoking the name of Rama, rather than an expression of surprise)
Who: Mohandas Gandhi .
Note: These words were reportedly spoken after Gandhi had been shot. According to his assassin Godse, Gandhi just made a "Uh …" kind of sound and slid down and the above words were inserted by the Congress.
[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 , 20th President of the United States. As quoted in "The Last Hours" , Life of President Garfield: The Complete Record of a Wonderful Career (1881), by William Ralston Balch, p. 573.
I can't breathe!
Who: Eric Garner
Note: Said while officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold and slammed onto the ground. After a few seconds, Pantaleo uses his hands to push Garner's head down on the sidewalk. As Pantaleo removed his arm from Garner's neck, he said the above line eleven times before going unconscious.
Ça fait mal là or Ça fait mal ici
Translation: I feel pain here.
Who: Charles de Gaulle , French leader.
Mother, I'm going to get my things and get out of this house. Father hates me and I'm never coming back.
Note: Moments later, Gaye was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gaye, Sr.
Fifty-fifty.
Note: Mouthed these words to his wife Eleanor.
Goddamn you!
Alleged last words, after his nurse administered a sedative.
There'll always be a Meersman.
Who: Gary Gilmore
Before his execution by firing squad in Utah on January 17, 1977. This was first execution in the United States after 10-years moratorium
After being asked for any last words, Gilmore simply replied, "Let's do it." The Rev. Thomas Meersman, the Roman Catholic prison chaplain, imparted Gilmore's last rites. After the prison physician cloaked him in a black hood, Gilmore uttered his last words to the Father Meersman:
Gary: Dominus vobiscum (Latin translation: "The Lord be with you.")
Meersman: Et cum spiritu tuo ("And with your spirit")
Gary (grinning): There'll always be a Meersman.
TIME Magazine, ed. " After Gilmore, Who's Next to Die ", Time Magazine 31 Jan. 1977. Time.com. TIME Magazine Publisher: Time Inc. Web. 23 July 2009.
I say "Honey", you say "G".
Note: Said while executing one of her assailants, before being taken by surprise by her killer.
Take her down!
It is also reported that "Come my little one, and give me your hand." were the last words he declared to his daughter-in-law Ottilie.
Another version reported is "Nichts mehr" (nothing more)
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.
馬鹿者！馬鹿者！ (Bakamono! Bakamono!!)
(also quoted as Bakayaro! Bakayaro!)
Translation: Idiots! Idiots!
Who: Admiral Aritomo Gotō 's last words to his staff, believing to have been hit by friendly fire, October 11, 1942
I really need a therapist
Who: Christopher Grace, an actor who killed himself during a matinee performance of Grease.
I created a flag from the sport’s dignity. I oversee the name of my family with affection, steady nerves and blood.
Who: Hélio Gracie , co-founder of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, or modern-day Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Water.
Who: Ulysses S. Grant , 18th President of the United States
Well, if it must be so.
I did not get my Spaghetti-O's, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.
Who: Thomas J. Grasso, d. March 20, 1995
Note: Executed by injection, Oklahoma.
It's stopped.
Who: Joseph Henry Green , upon checking his own pulse.
Schnell.
Who: Che Guevara .
"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 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.
Au moins, je meurs célèbre
Translation: At least I die famous.
Note: Before being executed for bombing a passenger flight.
Glory hallelujah! I am with the Lord, Glory, ready, go!
Who: Charles Guiteau , assassin of US President James A. Garfield, hanged in 1882
Nobody shot me.
Who: Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg , American mobster murdered as part of the Saint Valentine's Day massacre .
Note: In response to a police officer who asked "Who shot you?"
…and now for a final word from our sponsor…
Who: Charles Gussman , a television writer who wrote for the soap opera Days of Our Lives.
Ich bin der König von Schweden - gewesen.
Translation: I have been the king of Sweden. Note: The German perfect of "be," "I have been," is constructed with a finite form of "be" (here "bin") and its participle ("gewesen"). Without "gewesen" at the end, one would translate "I am the king of Sweden." Thus the weight of the sentence rests on an untranslatable bit of grammatical cleverness. A roughly equivalent English phrasing would be "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 sleepy, a short time of rest would do me good.
Who: Gustavus III of Sweden . He had been shot at a masquerade ball two weeks earlier.
You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant
Who: Woody Guthrie
Note: This quote is a best guess. Woody's son, Arlo , had delivered a demonstration copy of his song " Alice's Restaurant Massacree " to his father on his deathbed. According to a Guthrie family "joke," Guthrie was listening to the recording when he died.
Yes, it's tough, but not as tough as doing comedy.
Who: Edmund Gwenn , actor, d. September 6, 1959
Note: When asked if he thought dying was tough.
Lat det være, Marie – jeg dør nu.
Translation: Leave it be, Marie – I'm dying now.
Note: To his wife, Marie, when she attempts to correct his pillow. Knut Hamsun slept the last two days of his life, with his wife by his side.
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
Who: Nathan Hale , American spy, hanged in 1776, according to the account by William Hull based on reports by John Montresor . This has also been quoted as: I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country. Some speculation exists that he might have been repeating or paraphrasing lines from Joseph Addison 's play Cato: What pity is it that we can die but once to serve our country.
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. [And then, to his wife] Remember, my Eliza, you are a Christian.
Notes: Spoken after being shot by Aaron Burr in a duel .
Sleep well, my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much.
Who: Rob Hall , lead guide of the disastrous 1996 Mount Everest expedition . Said to his wife via satellite phone as he lay dying from exposure.
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. Go on, read some more.
Who: Warren G. Harding , 29th President of the United States, to his wife, who was reading him flattering newspaper accounts. He died of a heart attack moments later.
I love you.
Note: Spoken to his wife.
Everything is an illusion.
Note: Spoken to a visitor before she faced a firing squad. The words reflect the Eastern mysticism which had long fascinated her.
Where is Aunt Jetty? Hope she didn't run out on me…
Who: Jean Harlow , who died on June 6, 1937
One! Two! Three!
Who: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold , perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre , just before committing suicide by gunshot
It was the food! Don't touch the food!
Who: Richard Harris , actor.
Note: Spoken to fellow hotel guests, as he was wheeled through the foyer by paramedics.
You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper.
Who: Robert Alton Harris , d. April 21, 1992
Doctor, my lungs.
Who: Benjamin Harrison , 23rd president of the United States
Love one another.
Do you want me to come with you?
Who: George Harrison , who died from cancer on November 29, 2001. The first set of words were the last he said to his wife and son, the second were the last he said to his Beatles band mate Ringo Starr , jokingly in response to Ringo stating he would go to visit his sick daughter.
Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.
Who: William Henry Harrison , 9th President of the United States and the first to die in office.
Note: He spoke those words to his doctor, which were intended for John Tyler.
Ooh, the Godfather! Just saying his name makes my blue blood boil! Ooh, the Godfather, my arch-nemesis! He represents everything that's wrong with the WWF! But fear not, because I, the Blue Blazer, will always triumph over evil-doers! And you know why? Because I always take my vitamins, say my prayers, and drink my milk! WHOOOO!
Who: Owen Hart , Canadian professional wrestler.
Note: Spoken before a match as the Blue Blazer, versus the Godfather, where during his entrance he suffered his fatal fall. Although these may not be technically his last words, they are the last words the public heard him say.
Gentlemen, I bid you farewell…
Who: Wallace Hartley , to his fellow band mates before the Titanic sank, April 15, 1912.
Note: One survivor who clambered aboard Collapsible A distinctly heard Hartley say these words before he and the band were swept off the deck by the sea.
Children be comforted, I am well.
Note: Haydn's last words, as Napoleon's troops lay siege upon Vienna.
I know that I am going where Lucy is.
Who: Rutherford B. Hayes , 19th President of the United States, speaking of his late wife
Critter five-ninety-two, we need the, uh, closest airport available.
Who: First Officer Richard Hazen , ValuJet 592, last recorded words before crashing into the Everglades due to in-flight fire on May 11, 1996.
Well, I've had a happy life.
Who: Ernest Hemingway
Note: Spoken to his wife before committing suicide.
The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye, until we meet again.
Note: Said in a poem found next to him on his deathbed. The following was the final sentence in the poem.
Turn up the lights— I don't want to go home in the dark.
Who: O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), June 5, 1910
I trust in the merits of Christ. All is lost! Monks, Monks, Monks! So, now all is gone - Empire, Body, and Soul!
Note: Perhaps in reference to the monks he caused to be evicted during the dissolution of the monasteries.
Maybe I'm dying.
I am innocent, innocent, innocent. Make no mistake about this. I owe society nothing. I am an innocent man and something very wrong is taking place tonight.
Who: Lionel Herrera d. May 12, 1993
Note: Executed by injection, Texas.
Enough already.
Who: William Herrick , writer
And now, I am officially dead.
Who: Abram S. Hewitt , industrialist. He had just removed the oxygen tube from his mouth in the hospital.
Can you believe this crap?
Who: John-Erik Hexum
Note: Hexum was napping on the set of Cover Up during a delay in the filming of an episode. When told that there was going to be more delays, he jokingly said the line above before shooting himself with a gun filled with blanks that was meant for a scene in the episode. The blast fractured his skull and caused a massive brain hemorrhage. He was declared brain dead six days later.
I've said all that I've had to say.
Note: Hicks didn't die until 11 days later, but he quit speaking after saying this.
Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize.
Who: Joe Hill , in a letter to Bill Haywood, leader of the Industrial Workers of the World, before he was led to his execution by firing squad.
It should be noted, however, that after he heard the words of the executioner, "Ready… aim…" Hill shouted out his actual final word as a command: Fire! [11]
Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub.
Who: Conrad Hilton when asked if he had any last words of wisdom.
Ich bin Heinrich Himmler.
Who: Christopher Hitchens , author.
I myself and my wife - in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation - choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of a twelve years' service to my people.
Above all, I charge the leadership of the nation and their followers with the strict observance of the racial laws and with merciless resistance against the universal poisoners of all peoples, international Jewry.
Who: Adolf Hitler
Note: These are the last sentences in Adolf Hitler's last will and political testament respectively. They were issued on 29 April 1945, 4:00 AM. Hitler committed suicide with his long-time girlfriend and recently married wife Eva Braun the next day. These texts serve as his last confirmed words. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Will.htm .
I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.
You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan .
Who: Richard Holbrooke (d. 2010), American diplomat. Words to his Pakistani surgeon, as reported in The Washington Post (December 14, 2010).
Don't be in such a hurry.
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 tuberculosis. These last words were uttered after seeing his feet with boots off.
Lewis Strauss is one of my best friends.
Who: Herbert Hoover , 31st President of the United States
Surprise me.
Note: Spoken to his wife when asked where he wanted to be buried.
I'm tired of fighting! I guess this thing is going to get me.
Who: Harry Houdini
Houdini is often said to have died after being punched in the stomach before having a chance to tighten his abdominal muscles. This is a fabrication. Houdini was punched in the stomach, however doctors agree such a blow could not have caused his appendix to burst, which is what happened and is the cause of his death.
Texas, Margaret! Texas!
Note: Spoken to Tom Clark, who asked if he wanted another cup of coffee.
C'est ici le combat du jour et de la nuit. Je vois de la lumière noire.
Translation: This is the fight of day and night. I see black light.
Roger, uh, b-
Who: Colonel Rick Husband , commander of the doomed space shuttle mission STS-107 .
Note: The transmission from the Columbia cut out mid-sentence shortly before the shuttle disintegrated during earth interface.
Ashhadu an la ilaha ill-Allah, wa Muhammadu…
Translation: I swear that there is no God but God and Muhammad [is his prophet]…) which is the Shahadah , the Muslim affirmation of faith.
Who: Saddam Hussein
Saddam's last words at gallows when the trap door was released. He was hanged before he could finish the prayer. [12]
Apart from this prayer, his last words were Heya hay il marjala…? (Is this your manhood…?) responding to the shoutings of the hooded hangmen, “Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada,” in reference to Muqtada al-Sadr , the powerful and radical Shi'ite cleric who is a major power behind Shi’ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [13]
Others have accounted his last words were "Go to hell!" and "Palestine is Arab!"
LSD, 100 micrograms I.M.
Who: Aldous Huxley in a note to his wife. She obliged and he was injected twice before his death.
Who: Washington Irving - American author
Context: said to his niece as he readied himself for bed, whereupon he suffered a stroke and collapsed at the age of 70.
Don't worry, they usually don't swim backwards.
I'm dying.
Who: Steve Irwin A.K.A. The Crocodile Hunter
Context: Said when he was examining a Stingray in the Great Barrier Reef. It did, however, swim backwards and the tail pierced his chest. He died of bloodloss later.
During an interview on Australian TV show Studio 10 , cameraman Justin Lyons said the second of these quotes were Irwin's final words; while Lyons tried to reassure him, Irwin "sort of calmly looked up [at Lyons] and said, ‘I’m dying’. And that was the last thing he said".
May a blessing rest upon you, my sons, and upon your seed this day, for ye have given me rest, and my heart is not pained concerning the birthright, lest thou shouldest work wickedness on account of it. May the Most High God bless the man that worketh righteousness, him and his seed for ever.
Who: Isaac
Note: Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men and later died from pneumonia.
More milk.
Who: Michael Jackson
Note: Spoken to his doctor, Conrad Murray. The "milk" in question is the nickname he gave the drug propofol, which he was asking Murray for before he died from an overdose.
I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth
Who: Billy Ji , Chinese psychoanalyst.
Note: Died of liver cirrhosis.
Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.
Who: Steve Jobs , Apple CEO. His last statement was recorded by his sister on his death bed. NewYorkTimes .
I greet you, my eternal Germany.
Sometimes reported as: My greetings to you, my Germany.
Who: Alfred Jodl , Nazi military officer
Note: Jodl made this statement before he was executed by hanging.
I will see you tomorrow, if God wills it.
Who: Pope John Paul I , an hour before he died of a heart attack.
Amen.
Pozwólcie mi pójść do domu Ojca (Polish for "Let me go to the house of the Father")
Who: Pope John Paul II , uttered in his papal apartments, seconds before he died.
Never by God will that be that a King of Bohemia flees from the battle.
My right side is paralyzed. I need no doctor. I can overcome my own troubles.
Who: Andrew Johnson , 17th President of the United States
Note: Spoken to his granddaughter, who was about to send for a doctor.
Send Mike immediately!
Who: Lyndon Johnson , 36th President of the United States
Note: said to a Secret Service agent over an in-house telephone.
God Bless you, my dear!
Who: Samuel Johnson
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 .
I want to sleep.
As quoted in Dictionary of Last Words (1955) by Edward S. LeComte. LeComte cites Budapest Daily Szabad Ifjusag May 4, 1954, on authority of Mr. Istan Csicsery-Ronay.
LeComte, Edward S. (1954). Dictionary of Last Words. New York, NY: Philosophical Library..
 .
Who: Al Jolson
HMO's are in it for the money. Live free, love safe or die.
Who: Daniel V. Jones , on a banner he presented on a Los Angeles freeway shortly before shooting himself on live television in May 1998. Jones had previously expressed resentment at his HMO for their inadequate treatment of his cancer and HIV-infection.
…take our life from us, we laid it down, we got tired. We didn't commit suicide. We committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.
Who: Reverend James Warren "Jim" Jones , founder and leader of the Peoples Temple .
Note: These words were part of a recording on an audiocassette found at the People's Temple compound in Guyana after the mass suicide of 1978. While he may have shot himself after the tape ran out, these were his last recorded words. The Jonestown Death Tape (FBI No. Q 042) at the Internet Archive .
"So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz..." that's it! Haha!
The last line from Joplin's last recorded track, " Mercedes Benz ." Joplin died three days later.
Does nobody understand?
Who: James Joyce
In death as in life, I defy the Jews who caused this last war, and I defy the power of darkness which they represent. I warn the British people against the crushing imperialism of the Soviet Union. May Britain be great once again and the hour of the greatest danger in the West may the standard be raised from the dust, crowned with the words – you have conquered nevertheless. I am proud to die for my ideals and I am sorry for the sons of Britain who have died without knowing why.
Who: William Joyce , Irish-American fascist, Nazi collaborationist and propaganda broadcaster known as " Lord Haw-Haw "
Note: Joyce made this statement prior to his execution by hanging for treason.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!…
Ηρακλής! Πώς κρύο λουτρό σας!
Translation: Hercules! How cold your bath is!
Who: Jugurtha , King of Numidia.
Note: He spoke this as he was thrown into a Roman dungeon to starve to death.
Vicisti, Galilæ or νενίκηκάς με, Γαλιλαῖε (neníkikás me, Galilaíe)
Translation: You have won, Galilean
Who: Emperor Julian , having attempted to reverse the official endorsement of Christianity by the Roman Empire.
["Is the man in the bathroom wit u"] "He's a terror. Yes."
Who: Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, a victim of the Orlando nightclub shooting
Note: Justice send these as a text message to his mother before he was shot by the gunman. He died from his injuries.
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
Walter Pidgeon.
Who: English actor Boris Karloff
These were the final words he was heard to speak as he drifted in and out of sleep on his final day. It confused and distressed his wife Evie, since Karloff hadn't mentioned Pidgeon in years.
Ah well I suppose it has come to this… Such is life.
Who: Australian bush ranger Ned Kelly as he was hanged in the Melbourne Jail on November 11th 1880.
I wish I could go with you.
Who: Walt Kelly , Cartoonist
Spoken to his wife, Selby Kelly, as she visited him in 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.
[ Nellie Connally : You certainly can't say Dallas doesn't love you, Mr. President.] No, you certainly can't.
Who: John F. Kennedy , 35th President of the United States.
Don't lift me.
Note: Spoken to medical attendants when lifted onto a stretcher and seconds before he fell into a coma. He died in the early morning hours of the next day.
These last few days are among the happiest I've ever ignored.
Who: Douglas Kenney , founder of National Lampoon magazine
Note: Written on the back of a hotel receipt, with a bunch of random thoughts and the reasons he loved his girlfriend.
Solely by the merits of Jesus Christ, Our Saviour.
He suffered a fatal heart attack in public, and as people gathered round the spot someone said 'Get a doctor.'
I am going to the inevitable.
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.
Love y'all. Peace.
Note: The last known words that were spoken at the end of a video blog posted on her YouTube account.
Tell the men to fire faster! Don't give up the ship! Fight her till she sinks!
Who: James Lawrence , later used as naval ensign by his friend Commodore Perry . According to Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989), the only documented source is the blue battle-flag inscribed with these words ordered and used by Oliver Hazard Perry as a signal during the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. Although popularly attributed to Captain James Lawrence as his dying words during a battle with a British frigate off the coast of Boston on June 1, 1813, there remains the possibility these words were not his, but those of someone reporting the battle. For other attributed sources and theories, see Burton Stevenson, ed., Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases (1965), p. 2091; Charles C. Bombaugh, Facts and Fancies for the Curious (1905), p. 388–89; William S. Walsh, Hand-Book of Literary Curiosities (1929), p. 1004–5; Dictionary of American History (1976), rev. ed., vol. 2, p. 364; and Motor Boating (October 1965), p. 72.
Don't worry, wasps probably aren't good flyers.
Who: Jack Lawrence, esq.
Said when using a dolly in an attempt to knock down a wasp nest.
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.
Katie, Katie, look… it'll be fine, you know, I just need to get some sleep.
Note: According to his father, Ledger's sister was on the phone with the actor, telling him it's a bad idea to mix sleeping pills with prescriptions. He died shortly after he did just that.
Strike the tent.
Who: John Lennon
Note: Whilst sitting in the back of a police car on the way to the hospital after the officers had asked him if he was John Lennon. While widely reported highly likely doubtful. "Yes, I am," in response to, "Are you John Lennon?" is frequently cited as Lennon's "Last Words." The myth is based on the story that the police officer did not recognize someone as famous as John Lennon (and Yoko would have been present too). This is actually a restatement or twisting of the question the officer did likely ask: "Do you know who you are" which would have been an attempt to determine Lennon's level of consciousness. Different versions have him answering or not in different manners, some state he said he was John Lennon. That is doubtful, Lennon's mouth was bleeding profusely at this point. More likely, the alternative version is accurate, that Lennon slightly nodded (or appeared to nod) and could only manage a gurgling sound from his throat before he lost consciousness totally. This concurs with reports of levels of severity of his injuries. Lennon's blood loss was so great, before the police arrived that the concierge at The Dakota realizing the severity of the injuries, simply covered Lennon with his uniform's jacket and removed his blood covered glasses then summoned police. Also, Lennon's last words of "I'm shot" were spoken seconds after he was shot as he staggered a number of steps toward the lobby of the Dakota. Sources for this include discussion in the Last Words reference book, Last Words of Notable People -- Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History by William B. Brahms which also cites the Lennon biography, John Ono Lennon Volume 2, 1967-1980 by Ray Coleman ).
Brahms, William B. (2010). Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 399. ISBN 978-09765325-2-1 .
 ;
Coleman, Ray (1984). John Ono Lennon Volume 2, 1967-1980. London: Sidgwick & Jackson . ISBN 978-07088274-0-6 .
 .
Note: Linaker was calling his father from the Labor Youth Party camp in Norway on July 22, 2011 when he noticed a gunman shooting before he hung up. Linaker was among the 69 victims in the shooting.
Opfer müssen gebracht werden!
Translation: Sacrifices must be made!
Who: Otto Lilienthal pioneer of human aviation, after on 9 August 1896 a gust of wind fractured his wing and he fell from a height of 17 m (56 ft), breaking his spine. These were his last words to his brother before he succumbed to the injury.
She won't think anything about it.
Who: Abraham Lincoln , 16th President of the United States, as quoted in Famous Last Words‎ (1961) by Barnaby Conrad
Note: Stated after Mary Lincoln had asked him what Clara Harris sitting next to them might think of them holding hands.
Keep up the fire!
Who: U.S. Army Colonel Emerson H. Liscum , commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment , directing his troops after being fatally wounded during the Battle of Tientsin in China, 1900
Note: Liscum's last words became the official motto of the 9th Infantry Regiment.
The bastards got me, but they won't get everybody.
Who: Alexander Litvinenko , whistleblowing former Russian spy, who was poisoned in a London sushi bar. Said in an interview on November 23 , 2006, hours before his death. (The Times, November 24 , 2006)
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.
Hey - what's happening here?
Who: Captain Robert Loft of Eastern Air Lines flight 401
Note: The December 29, 1972 crash of Eastern Air Lines flight 401 was a result of the flight crew's failure to recognize a deactivation of the autopilot during their attempt to troubleshoot a malfunction of the landing gear position indicator system. As a result, the flight gradually lost altitude while the flight crew was preoccupied and eventually crashed. It was the first crash of a wide-body aircraft and, at the time, the deadliest in the United States.
Muero con mi patria!
Died during the Battle of Cerro Cora on March 1, 1870.
Does my face look strange?
Note: Spoken to his wife before collapsing from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Allah, save this country! Pakistan zindabad!
Who: Liaquat Ali Khan , first Prime Minister of Pakistan, spoke to the nation before 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
Note: Another biographer has him saying "Why do you weep? Did you think I was immortal?".
I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I Pardon those who have occasioned my death; and I pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited on France.
Who: Louis XVI of France, d. January 21, 1793
Note: Executed by guillotine
A King should die standing.
Who: Louis XVIII , King of France, d. 1824
Note: Louis XVIII suffered from a severe case of gout, which worsened over the years. At the end of his life, the King was wheelchair-bound most of the time.
Sometimes the pain is unbearable.
Who: Howard Phillips Lovecraft , American author considered to be one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre.
Note: He spent the last few years of his life dying of malnourishment and cancer of the small intestine.
Tell them, I died game.
Who: Fred Lowry , Australian bushranger d. 1863
Note: Lowry died from his wounds after shootout with Police near Crookwell, New South Wales.
Never drive at night.
Who: Joseph Lucas , "The Prince of Darkness", Founder of Lucas Industries , manufacturer of automotive electrical components such as alternators, headlights, etc. which were notorious for unreliability in the early days of automotive engineering.
Know that no one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles… We are beggars: this is true.
Take away those pillows. I shall need them no more.
Who: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer.
Quoted in Stuart Dodgson Collingwood , The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (1898), pp.347-8
Life!
Who: Robert Roy MacGregor , Scottish folk hero and outlaw.
Aidez-moi, ma chère amie!
Translation: Help me, my dear friend!
Who: Jean-Paul Marat , Jacobin publisher of L'Ami du Peuple (The People's Friend), just after being stabbed by Charlotte Corday
I feel great.
Who: Pete Maravich , American basketball player
Note: Said seconds before his death at a pickup basketball game.
I'm okay!
Who: Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw , the first of only two Indian military officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal in the Indian Army
Money can't buy life.
On your way up, please take me up, on your way down, don't let me down.
Who: Bob Marley , Jamaican musician. Spoken to his sons Stephen & Ziggy.
Jesus Christ was put to death on the false testimony of those who received money in exchange for the lies they told. Just the same, the state of Ohio has succeeded in its quest for my life by way of perjured testimony and false witnesses who were paid to tell the lies they did. However, there has never been any hate nor desire of revenge in my heart for them, for I know God will repay those for each and every one of their sins that have gone forgotten.
Who: Ernest Martin , American murderer executed June 18, 2003 for the murder of Cleveland -area store owner Robert Robinson.
Note: In the death chamber, Martin spoke about three minutes in what prison officials said was the longest final statement by a condemned inmate since Ohio resumed executions in 1999. The statements were not recorded. Here are some excerpts as transcribed by prison officials: "I know that God is in control and those who are here are not responsible. Just as Jesus Christ was lied on and slandered, so I have been treated the same way. I have no hatred. I know God is in control and I pray that he will forgive us of our sins, forgive the media people watching of their sins and all that they have done. As the Bible says, let those without sin cast the first stone. God forgave us all. To my family, I love you all. I know I did not live a good life. Thank God for allowing my sister and nephew to be here and brother Morgan for his support. Hug Momma for me. Take care family. Take care media. God bless you all." [17]
I forgive everyone, beg that everyone forgives me as well, and wish that my blood, that is going to be shed now, will benefit the country. Long live Mexico! Long live Independence.
Who: Emperor Maximilian of Mexico (executed)
It wasn't worth it.
Who: Louis B. Mayer , film producer, d. October 29, 1957
Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me… but would have taken so much more. The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type… Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!
Note: Maynard, who advocated for the legalization of aid in dying, wrote this as her final post on Facebook before she took her own life.
I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!
Who: Chris McCandless , American wanderer and subject of the book Into the Wild . He wrote a final note on a page from Louis L'Amour's book, Education of a Wandering Man, before dying of starvation on August 18th, 1992.
Daddy flight, save your auxiliary tanks.
Who: Fighter ace Thomas McGuire
Note: he attempted to dogfight a Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 fighter aircraft on low altitude having failed to dump his aircraft's auxiliary tanks, with disastrous results - his aircraft stalled and crashed due to extra weight of the tanks.
Good-bye, good-bye all. It's God's way. His will, not ours, be done.
Who: William McKinley , 25th President of the United States, assassinated in 1901
We are holding our own.
Who: Ernest M. McSorley
Note: McSorley was captain of the 729-foot Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald , which was in a storm on Lake Superior. Soon after he said these words, the ship sank and all twenty-nine men aboard were killed.
[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 , 4th President of the United States.
Mozart! Mozart!
Who: Gustav Mahler , according to his wife, Alma.
In this way that the God of Israel reveals to me from the highest skies!
Who: Francisco Maldonado, a Jewish surgeon and writer killed during the Peruvian Inquisition.
Note: On the day of his execution, a great storm devastated Lima.
The Jewish Encyclopedia gives his last words as, This is the will of the Lord. I shall see the God of Israel face to face. [18]
Cheerio!
Who: Gangster Antonio Mancini when Albert Pierrepoint had put the noose on his neck.
Gentlemen, the uh, camper and the car sitting over to the south of me is covered. It's gonna get me, too. I can't get out of here…
Who: HAM radio operator Jerry Martin.
Note: The final transmission of Jerry Martin, reporting on the eruption of Mount St. Helens Andre Stepankowsky, Memories, lessons from mountain's fury, The Daily News , 17 May 2005.
Die, my dear? Why, that's the last thing I'll do!
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
All right.
Who: William Barclay "Bat" Masterson , former Wild West gunfighter; he was asked by a fellow reporter of the New York Morning Telegraph about his health after he had been ill with a cold.
Note: His last written words, on his note pad for the column he was writing, were, No wonder these birds are flying high when they get that kind of money for an hour's work. Just think of an honest, hard-working farmer laboring from daylight to dark for forty years of his life, and lucky if he finishes with as much as one of these birds gets in an hour. Yet there are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear I can't see it that way.
Never again. Never again.
Who: Bill Masterton
Note: Said after he fell backwards and hit his head on the ice after being checked and lost consciousness, and died two days later. He wasn't wearing a helmet at the time; it would be 11 years before the NHL made helmets mandatory. He is currently the only NHL player to die from injuries sustained on the ice.
God bless Captain Vere!
Who: Herman Melville , author of Moby-Dick
Note: A reference from his then-unpublished novel Billy Budd, which was discovered on his desk after he died.
Pee pee.
Who: Freddie Mercury , lead singer of the British rock group Queen . Spoken as Mercury was dying of AIDS, asking to be helped to the restroom.
It's all been rather lovely.
Who: John Le Mesurier , before slipping into a final coma.
I give my soul to God, my body to the earth, and my worldly possessions to my nearest of kin, charging them to remember the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
Who: Van Miller
Note: Miller had been rendered unable to speak due to a stroke a week prior to his death and had been suffering from declining function for several months. That single word, a signature call of his from the 1990s, was reportedly the only thing he said after the stroke and before his death, as reported by a former co-worker of Miller's, WIVB-TV 's Jacquie Walker.
Come on out.
Who: Spike Milligan , British comedian.
動けない… (Ugokenai…)
Who: Mitsuharu Misawa , Japanese professional wrestler
Note: Misawa had taken a belly-to-back suplex from Akitoshi Saito . When the referee asked whether or not he could move, Misawa replied with the above response. Afterwards, he lost consciousness and was later taken to the hospital, where he died. The official cause of death was listed as a cervical spinal cord injury.
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 Ichigaya Camp, the Tokyo headquarters of the Eastern Command of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, while his followers, the Tatenokai or "Shield Society", held the Commander hostage. Mishima encouraged the soldiers to launch a military coup and restore the traditional powers of the Emperor. They responded with mocking jeers. Mishima shouted "Long Live the Emperor!" three times, went back inside, and spoke his last words under his breath before performing the ritual self-disembowelment. One of Mishima's followers, a 25-year-old named Masakatsu Morita, tried three times to ritually behead Mishima but failed; his head was finally severed by Hiroyasu Koga.
It tastes bad.
Margaret Mitchell , upon being given a drink of orange juice while convalescing in a hospital.
Why should I talk to you? I've just been talking with your boss.
Wilson Mizner after talking to a priest.
I regret that I should leave this world without again beholding him.
Who: James Monroe , 5th President of the United States.
Note: Spoken to a friend about James Madison.
Say good-bye to Pat , say good-bye to Jack and say good-bye to yourself , because you're a nice guy.
Who: Marilyn Monroe to actor Peter Lawford.
It has all been very interesting.
Who: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Source: Clifton Fadiman , Some Passing Remarks on Some Passing Remarks
Well, now I must go to meet God and try to explain all those men I killed at Alamein.
Who: Bernard Montgomery
If you don't like it, you can fuck off!
Who: Keith Moon , drummer for the British rock group The Who . He asked his girlfriend to cook him breakfast, but she complained and that made him angry. He died approximately six hours later.
I can hear the music all around me.
Who: Dudley Moore , British actor.
This hath not offended the king.
Who: Thomas More at the execution block, moving his beard out of the way.
I'm glad that's over.
Who: Eric Morecambe , after going off stage after a solo performance at Stan Stennett's theatre, Tewkesbury, May 28, 1984.
Lord, if I have done well, You know it; and if badly, I take refuge in Your infinite mercy.
Who: José María Morelos , Mexican independence fighter (executed)
Dios no muere!
Who: Gabriel García Moreno , President of Ecuador
Context: He had been attacked by assassins and had spoken these words after his attack. He reportedly had a favorite saying: "I am only a man who can be killed and replaced, but God does not die."
You take me back to Eagle Bridge and you'll get back your stethoscope.
Who: Grandma Moses , spoken to the physician whose stethoscope she took.
Sparami nel petto!
Translate: Shoot me in the chest!
Who: Benito Mussolini just as he was shot by a partisan leader.
Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise.
Who: Andrew Mutton . (A mobster whose 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)
Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it.
Who: Harry Morant
Note: Morant was court-martialed 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.
In manus tuas domine confido spiritum meum.
Translation: Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit
V-1
Who: Klaas Meurs
Note: Klaas Meurs was the First Officer of KLM Flight 4805 , which crashed on take-off on March 27th 1977, killing 583 people when it collided with a Pan Am Boeing 747, killing all 248 on Flight 4805 {Inlcuding Meurs} and 335 on the Pan Am Aircraft. His last words of "V-1" where the Aviation terminology used when an Aircraft is going too fast to cancel the take-off and must take-off. Eight seconds later, both planes collided.
Pam, are you still there?
Who: Jim Morrison , American poet and lead singer of the Doors
Spoken to his girlfriend Pamela Courson from the bathtub of his Paris apartment. He died there shortly thereafter.
I should have asked for a stunt double!
Who: Vic Morrow , American actor
Morrow said this before filming a challenging scene for "Twilight Zone: The Movie" with a helicopter. During filming, the helicopter lost control, and fell on the actors. He and one of the two children were decapitated while the other was crushed by the falling helicopter.
Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places.
See also: Moses
The taste of death is upon my lips…I feel something, that is not of this earth.
Who: Mozart
In the company of the blessed: from the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. O Allah, the highest companions. O Allah, the highest companions. O Allah, the highest companions.
Who: Vladimir Nabokov , poet.
Thank God I have done my duty…Drink drink, fan fan, rub rub.
Who: British Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson ; This is recorded definitively in an account by Nelson's ship surgeon, Dr. William Beatty. That Nelson said "Kiss me, Hardy", often believed to be "Kismet, 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 ) The latter clause mentions how hot and thirsty he was when dying.
I don't know what I may seem to the world. But as to myself I seem to have been only a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
Who: Isaac Newton , british physicist, mathematician and astronomer.
I am in the land of the dying, and I am soon going to the land of the living.
Who: John Newton , Anglican preacher, abolitionist, and writer of "Amazing Grace."
Nei myn Hear ta.
Translation: To my Lord .
Who: Pier Gerlofs Donia , legendary Frisian freedom fighter and giant folk hero
Note: After an old enemy of Pier Gerlofs asked him where he'd want to go in afterlife, he answered in Frisian that he wanted to go to his Lord in Heaven. After he'd said this, his condition got worse and he passed away.
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"
Note: This was said when after he committed suicide he saw a guard, who may have been part of the assassination, running toward him thinking he was coming to rescue him.
Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her… Soldiers! Fire!
Note: Said before being executed by firing squad following the defeat of his supreme leader, Napoleon Bonaparte . He had been offered a last request, and had asked for the right to give the firing squad the order to fire.
What?! What?!
Who: Nicholas II of Russia
Note: In the early morning of July 17, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II and his family were led by the Bolsheviks to the half-basement room at the back of the Ipatiev house in hopes that they would be safe from the anti-Bolsheviks' attack on the house. When they were informed that they were condemned to death by the Ural Soviet of Workers' Deputies, his stunning reaction was his final word before he turned to the family and got shot to death in the chest; the rest of the family soon followed him in death.
I love you so much.
Who: Harry Nilsson
Note: Said to his wife before going to sleep and dying from heart failure.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP
Note: Final public words, sent in the form of a tweet. The abbreviation LLAP at the end of the quotation stands for " Live long and prosper ", a phrase popularized by Nimoy's character Spock on Star Trek .
Help.
Who: Richard Nixon , 37th President of the United States
Note: Said to a housekeeper as he had a stroke. Though he remained alert for a period of time after he was taken to the hospital, he was unable to speak.
Tomorrow, I shall no longer be here.
Lenger og lenger mot nord…
Translation: Further and further to the north…
Who: Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Note: The first sentence is commonly acknowledged version. The second one is according to his daughter.
What do I tell the pilot to do?
Who: Barbara Olson Olson spoke her last words to her husband into her cell phone from inside a locked airplane lavatory
I am just going outside. I may be some time.
Who: Captain Lawrence Oates , on Robert Falcon 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.
Quoted in R. F. Scott's diary, published as Scott's Last Expedition, ch.20
Más totopos.
Who: Álvaro Obregón , Mexican politician.
Obregón was sitting in a restaurant, and is said to have asked for more totopos (tortilla chips) a few seconds before being shot.
¿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
Note: Ocampo was rounded up by conservative rebels and sentenced to death. He spoke these words after his executioner ordered him to kneel.
I'd like to thank the Academy for my lifetime achievement award that I will eventually get.
Who: Agnieszka Osiecka , Polish poet and writer.
To her children on her deathbed. http://www.niniwa2.cba.pl/warszawka-osieckaagnieszka.html .
Going down, 1862, going down, going down, copied, going down?
Who: El Al Airlines first officer Arnon Onhad.
Note: Ohad was aboard El Al Flight 1862 , which crashed into a Dutch apartment complex on October 4, 1992. Ohad spoke these words while communicating with air traffic control.
This isn't Hamlet, you know. It's not meant to go into the bloody ear.
Note: Supposedly said this when a nurse, attempting to moisten his lips, mis-aimed. In Shakespeare 's play Hamlet, the title character's father is killed when poison is dripped into his ear while asleep.
I am in some pain… my hearing and speech are very poor.
Who: J. Robert Oppenheimer , American theoretical physicist.
Note: Written in a note a few days before he died.
I knew it! I knew it! Born in a hotel room, and goddamn it, dying in a hotel room!
Who: Eugene O'Neill , American Nobel-prize winning playwright
I love you.
Note: Executed by injection, South Dakota
Let me have none of your popish stuff. Get away with you. Good morning.
Who: Thomas Paine , pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical and intellectual. Author of Common Sense, The Rights of Man and The American Crisis.
Note: Spoken to two clergymen who were trying to lead the famous Deist in a deathbed conversion. [ citation needed ]
Also quoted as: I have no wish to believe on that subject.
[before stepping on the gallows trap] Is it safe?
Hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could kill a dozen men while you're screwing around!
Who: Carl Panzram , serial killer, shortly before he was executed by hanging on September 5, 1930.
And you all are trying to get more and more people and more business leaders involved in this, and talk about, uh, why it's important to get these business leaders involved.
Who: Alison Parker
Note: Parker was conducting a live interview about upcoming events for the 50th anniversary of Smith Mountain Lake when she was shot several times a couple of seconds after she said the above line. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
I wasn't done.
Who will take care of me now?
Who: Jack Parsons , rocket scientist and occultist.
May God never abandon me.
Who: Fernando Pessoa , Portuguese poet
Note: Fernando Pessoa, who was bilingual, wrote his words in English, after losing the ability to speak.
Eva se va.
Who: Eva Perón , Argentinian First Lady
I am curious to see what happens in the next world to one who dies unshriven.
Giving his reasons for refusing to see a priest as he lay dying.
Who: Pietro Perugino, Italian painter, d. 1523
Larry! We're going down, Larry!
Who: First Officer Roger Pettit to Captain Larry Wheaton of Air Florida Flight 90 , January 13, 1982.
Note: The plane lost altitude after a failed takeoff attempt and struck the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., killing all but four passengers and one flight attendant. A subsequent investigation determined that the pilots failed to switch on the engines' internal ice protection systems, used reverse thrust in a snow storm prior to takeoff, and failed to abort the takeoff even after detecting a power problem while taxiing and visually identifying ice and snow buildup on the wings.
And will you rule better?
Who: Phocas , Byzantine Emperor, 602 - 610
Phocas was defeated by Heraclius in a civil war, and had been abandoned by his supporters as Heraclius and his army arrived at Constantinople. He was captured and brought before the new emperor, who asked him, "Is this how you have ruled, wretch?" When Phocas gave this reply, an enraged Heraclius killed and beheaded him on the spot.
No paparazzi, I want anonymity.
Note: Piaf spoke these words to her sister, standing at her deathbed.
Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink any more.
Note: Paul McCartney paid homage to Picasso in the song Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me) , which can be found on the Band on the Run album.
Запрягайте сани, хочу ехать к сестре. (Zapryagayte sani, khochu ekhat k sestre.)
Translation: Get the sledge ready, I want to go to my sister.
Note: His sister, Natalia, had died 14 months before him.
God, I'm bored.
Harry St. John Philby , Arabist and writer, father of spy Kim Philby.
Lucy…
Who: Augusto Pinochet , dictator of Chile.
Note: He was referring to his wife, Lucia Hiriart .
Oh, my country! How I leave my country!
Who: Sylvia Plath , American poet, novelist, and short-story writer.
Lord help my poor soul.
I love you Sarah. For all eternity, I love you.
Who: James K. Polk , 11th President of the United States
Note: He was speaking to his wife on his deathbed.
I have not told half of what I saw.
Marco Polo , Venetian traveller and writer
Good-bye boys; I die a true American.
Note: Poole was a member of the New York City gang the Bowery Boys, a bare-knuckle boxer, and a leader of the Know Nothing political movement in the mid nineteenth century.
Okay, I won't.
Note: Those were his last words to fiancée Ginger Alden. She had told him, when he was on the way to the bathroom, "Don't fall asleep in there."
Wait a few days before you waste your prayers on me.
Who: Prince
Note: The last statement he made on stage five days before his death, which was made to address a recent trip he'd made to the hospital.
Viva Cristo Rey!
Note: Said directly before he was executed by firing squad during the Cristero rebellion in Mexico.
Me l'aspettavo.
Translation: I expected it to happen
Who: Pino Puglisi , Italian priest shot by a Mafia assassin
Note: Pino Puglisi was reported to have smiled to his killer.
I love you, Kathy. I love the baby , but I need to find peace. I can't go on.
Who: Freddie Prinze , stand-up comedian and actor , who left a suicide note and made a series of phone calls to his friends and family. The last statement was a phone call to his wife. After the call, Prinze pulled out a gun from the sofa and shot himself in the head.
The city is fallen and I am still alive.
Who : Constantine XI Palaiologos , final Byzantine emperor, before charging into the final battle at the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.
Are you all right?
Who: Ernie Pyle
Note: Said to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Coolidge after the two jumped into a ditch following a burst of Japanese machine gun fire on the island of Iejima. A round from a second burst entered Pyle's left temple, killing him instantly.
Adesso (or ora) vi faccio vedere come muore un italiano!
Translation: Now I will show you how an Italian dies!
Who: Fabrizio Quattrocchi , Italian security officer taken hostage in Iraq early in the Iraq War. When his captors came to execute him he rose from his knees, refused to kneel back down, and said these words.
I'm convicted unfairly, and I die innocent.
Who: Vidkun Quisling , before being executed by firing squad.
Note: Rizal mentioned it moments before being shot by a firing squad. These are the last words spoken by Jesus (John 19:30).
I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie.
Who: Debbie Reynolds
Note: Her daughter, actress Carrie Fisher , had died of heart failure the day before. and both Debbie and her son Todd Fisher were planning Carrie's funeral. According to Todd, she had made the comment, and 15 minutes later, suffered a stroke that she later died from.
Forward! For God's sake, forward!
Who: John Reynolds , Union General at Gettysburg , seconds before he was shot by a Confederate sharpshooter.
Why do you drink that stuff, Ozzy? One of these days it's gonna kill you.
Note: Referring to Ozzy Osbourne's alcohol addiction. Died in a plane crash later that night. Sourced from autobiography of Ozzy Osbourne, "I Am Ozzy."
Now I'm going to tell you a story from the Bible about spiritual courage…
Who: Baseball impressario Branch Rickey
Note: He was in the middle of an acceptance speech at Missouri's Sports Hall of Fame when he collapsed in mid-sentence and never regained consciousness.
No words can express just how sorry I am for taking the lives of my babies. No way I can make up for or take away the pain I have caused everyone who knew and loved them. I love you, my babies.
Who: Christina Marie Riggs , first woman executed in Arkansas on May 2, 2000. In 1997 she killed her two small children and then failed in her attempt to commit suicide.
My God, Ned, help me! I'm on fire!
Who: Edward "Fireball" Roberts, 1962 Daytona 500 winner
Note: Last recorded words said to Ned Jarrett in an attempt to save him, and recorded by many of the witnesses just moments after his fatal wreck during the 1964 World 600. In an attempt to avoid a wreck in front of him, Roberts swerved right to avoid, and spun out. His car hit an open patch in the wall, ripped the fuel tank, and was subsequently engulfed in fire. He slipped into a coma as a result of the accident, and died of third-degree burns three months later.
Yes, a bullet-proof vest.
Note: Asked if he has any last requests before facing a firing squad.
I forgot something.
Who: George Lincoln Rockwell , founder of the American Nazi Party
Note: He was in the Econowash laundromat at the Dominion Hills Shopping Center in Arlington, Virginia, and spoke those words to no one in particular as he left the laundromat to get something from his car. Moments later, John Palter , a former member of Rockwell’s group, fatally shot Rockwell from the roof of the shopping center.
If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself.
Who: Ernst Röhm
Note: He was co-founder of the ("Storm Battalion"; SA) and was among a number of Nazi officials who were suspected of conspiring against Adolf Hitler. He was executed during the 1934 Night of Long Knives . Hitler was hesitant in ordering his execution and gave Röhm the opportunity to commit suicide. On July 2, he was given a pistol by 2 SS officers and was told he had 10 minutes to use it. He refused and stated what were to be his last words. He was later shot in the chest by SS-Obersturmbannführer Michael Lippert.
We are innocent. That is the whole truth. To forsake this truth is to pay too high a price even for the priceless gift of life. For life thus purchased we could not live out in dignity.
Note: Said before his execution
May God have mercy on the assassins.
Who: Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero
Note: He was fatally shot while saying Mass in San Salvador by a death squad assassin who fired from the entrance of the Church, whom Romero presumably saw.
Utter nonsense.
Note: Spoken to the nurse who told her she would die when the reason God put her on earth was fulfilled.
I have a terrific headache.
Who: Franklin Delano Roosevelt , 32nd President of the United States, 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.
Please put out the light.
Who: Theodore Roosevelt , 26th President of the United States (January 6, 1919)
No.
Who: Alfred Rosenberg , Nazi ideologist and minister
Note: when asked if he had any last words before being executed by hanging.
We are the first victims of American fascism!
Who: Ethel Rosenberg
Note: She and her husband Julius were executed in 1953 in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison for treason, having been convicted of passing information to the Soviet Union concerning the construction of the atomic bomb. The judge who condemned them to death said that he did so to prevent the Rosenbergs from ever being released from prison. Their two young children were eventually adopted by songwriter Abel Meeropol.
We are innocent. That is the whole truth. To forsake this truth is to pay too high a price even for the priceless gift of life. For life thus purchased we could not live out in dignity.
Note: He and his wife Ethel were executed in the electric chair in 1953 for treason (passing in blueprints of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union; see above.)
No thank you.
Who: Michael Bruce Ross , executed in Connecticut on May 13, 2005
Note: When asked if he had any last words.
Don’t go away. I don’t want to be alone. I can’t stand being alone.
Who: Arnold Rothstein , a.k.a. Mr. Big. Said to his wife Carolyn as he tried to raise himself he fell back and into unconsciousness. Rothstein would not regain consciousness and died the following morning.
I here declare my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule -- to all political, social and business connection with the Yankees and to the Yankee race. Would that I could impress these sentiments, in their full force, on every living Southerner and bequeath them to every one yet to be born! May such sentiments be held universally in the outraged and down-trodden South, though in silence and stillness, until the now far-distant day shall arrive for just retribution for Yankee usurpation, oppression and atrocious outrages, and for deliverance and vengeance for the now ruined, subjugated and enslaved Southern States!…And now with my latest writing and utterance, and with what will be near my latest breath, I here repeat and would willingly proclaim my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule--to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, and the perfidious, malignant and vile Yankee race.
Who: Edmund Ruffin (Diary entry, 17 June 1865)
Note: Ruffin was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy during the Civil War and fired one of the first shots of the war at Fort Sumter in 1861. He wrote his final diary entry on the occasion of General Robert E. Lee's surrender, and after completing his entry, shot himself in the head.
Hurry it up! I want to be in hell in time for dinner.
Who: Edward H. Ruloff , a convicted serial killer and last person to be executed by hanging in the State of New York.
What's happening?
Who: Tim Russert , longtime host of Meet the Press on NBC
Spoken as a greeting, shortly before he collapsed, to NBC Washington bureau editing supervisor Candace Harrington [19]
Goodbye, cobber. God bless you.
Note: His last words before joining his attack wave during the Battle of The Nek . "Cobber" is an Australian colloquialism that means "friend".
I'm going over the valley.
Who: Babe Ruth , baseball player.
Note: His doctor had asked him where he was going when he got up to wander around his hospital room.
God bless you, please make it quick.
Who: Ronald Ryan , the last man to hanged in Australia on 3 February 1967.
Put out the bloody cigarette!
Who: Saki (British author Hugh Hector Munro)
Note: Spoken to a fellow officer while in a trench during World War I , for fear the smoke would give away their positions; he was then shot by a German sniper who had heard the remark.
"yea...usually @ north camarillo"
Who: Robert M. Sanchez
Note: Texted one minute before Sanchez, a Los Angeles Metrolink engineer, collided his commuter train with a Union Pacific freight train in the Chatsworth train collision .
Oh no!
Who: J.D. Salinger , American author of The Catcher In The Rye
Note: Although not his final words, it was Salinger's last spoken word to the media a year before his death. Salinger lived an extremely reclusive life.
Thank you Palestrina. It’s a wonderful evening, it’s great to be here and I wanna dedicate you a super sexy song.
Who: Mark Sandman (American jazz singer)
Note: Sandman collapsed on stage at the Giardini del Principe in Palestrina, Italy while performing with his band Morphine, just after saying this to the audience.
A party! Let's have a party.
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 had intended to say.
Yolanda, in Room 158.
Who: Selena
Note: Selena had been shot in the back by Yolanda Saldívar during an argument over missing financial records. Before losing consciousness, Selena named Saldivar as her assailant and the room number she was staying at to a Days Inn motel employee.
Fuck you.
Note: Spoken to a police officer who had asked who shot him (Shakur).
Let's be wild tonight.
Who: Sirkka Sari
Note: Sari was a Finnish actress who died by falling down a chimney during a party. These are her last recorded words, by which she convinced the crew and her castmates to have a party at the Aulanko hotel, where they were shooting; during the party, Sari and one of the men in the group (she was engaged, but the man was not her fiancee) went up to the roof of the hotel. On the flat roof, there was a several-feet high chimney, with a ladder leading up to the top; Sari mistook this chimney for a scenery balcony , climbed up, and fell into a heating boiler , where she died instantly.
It's good.
Who: Sadako Sasaki , Hiroshima atomic bomb victim, after tasting her tea before dying of leukemia at age 12.
Faisal, Saud is your brother. Saud, Faisal is your brother. There is no power and no strength save in God.
Who: The last words of Ibn Saud ; quoted in Ibn Saud, by Leslie McLoughlin
Ik schiet beter!
Note: Spoken to a German soldier after having been shot in her execution; the soldier subsequently emptied his machine gun into her.
Hier, hier ist das deutsche Herz!
Translation: Here, here is the German heart!
Who: The last of the "Schillschen officers" - a group of eleven Prussian officers executed on the Schillschen Field in Wesel, Germany, by Napoleon's troops. Reportedly said after his ten fellow-officers were shot by the firing squad, leaving him alive unintentionally. He was promptly shot.
I have a problem — I have a real problem.
Note: Said as his plane entered a flat spin and subsequently crashed.
Es lebe die Freiheit!
Who: Hans Scholl , leader of The White Rose , German anti-Hitler resistance movement.
His last words from the guillotine before sentence of death for high treason was executed (22 February 1943)
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy…how can I ever forget them…
Note: From the final Peanuts comic strip released on February 13, 2000 (one day after his death).
Roger, go at throttle-up.
Note: These were his last recorded words before the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated , killing him and six other astronauts.
Shazbot. Nanu nanu.
Bon Scott , lead vocalist of rock band AC/DC.
Note: His last words as heard on the last track of Highway to Hell, Night Prowler. This phrase is taken from the show "Mork & Mindy." It was used by the aliens to say "goodbye." He died later by alcohol poison. Although these may not be technically his last words, they were the last words heard by the public.
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.
My dear, be a good man — be virtuous — be religious — be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here. …God bless you all.
As quoted in John Gibson Lockhart Memoirs of the life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart, Vol. VII (1838), p. 294
Just leaving for God's own country.
Who Richard Seddon , Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Note: Final telegram sent to the Premier of Victoria, Sir Thomas Bent, from on board the Oswestry Grange heading back to New Zealand, 10 June 1906. He died later that evening of heart failure. " God's Own Country " has long been a nickname for New Zealand.
They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!
Who: John Sedgwick
Note: Sedgwick was a Union Civil War general who was hit by sniper fire a few minutes after saying these, 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, his actual last words are believed to be "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 )
The car seems OK…
Who: Ayrton Senna , three time Formula One World Racing champion
Note: He said these last words over his team radio before his steering column broke and he subsequently crashed into a wall, killing him instantly.
My boys, I'm going down.
Who: Alexandru Şerbănescu , World War II flying ace.
Note: Said as his aircraft was shot down.
Days betray me when I am not working. None of my guests nor I mentioned it was Saturday, so, for me, it was a Sunday dinner. Perhaps I'll have another tomorrow!
Note: Actor; died on a Saturday.
Dying is easy, comedy is hard.
Note: Said on his death bed.
Braćo, spasavaj se ko hoće i ko može!
Translation: Brothers, save yourself those of you who want and who can!
Who: Stevan Sinđelić , Serbian military commander.
Note: Sinđelić uttered it during Battle of Čegar , before igniting the gunpowder kegs in the powder cave, creating an enormous explosion that killed him, all of the Serb rebels and Ottoman soldiers.
Up…up…
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. His last words are often erroneously quoted as "Put me back on my bike"; Simpson's soigneur told reporters that he wanted to be "put back on his bike", and this was reported as such.
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 . Other sources quote him as saying, "I'm losin' it."
I am not going. Do with me what you like. I am not going. Come on! Come on! Take action! Let's go!
Who: Chief Sitting Bull , famous for leading the Sioux tribe against General Custer's troops at the Battle of Little Bighorn
Note: About 43 members of the Indian police decided to arrest him. Sitting Bull refused to leave with the police and a crowd of angry supporters gathered around him. A fight broke out and Sitting Bull wound up getting shot in the head.
This is the first time authorities helped me escape prison.
Who: George Sitts , convicted murderer before his electrocution in 1947 in South Dakota
They're not shooting me for deserting the United States Army - thousands of guys have done that. They're shooting me for that brass I stole when I was 12 years old.
Who: Eddie Slovik , the only US soldier shot for desertion during World War II. Said shortly before his execution by firing squad at 10:04 a.m. on January 31, 1945, near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France.
Która godzina?
Who: Juliusz Słowacki , Polish romantic poet.
My wife is very good at putting me to sleep just by rubbing my hands… Be strong my darling…
Who: Peter Smedley, English Hotelier
Note: Smedley had an assisted death at a Dignitas euthanasia clinic after suffering from motor neurone disease for much of his life. His assisted death was televised as part of Terry Pratchett 's documentary Choosing To Die. He died holding his wife's hand, calmly and of his own choice.
I believe we should adjourn this meeting to another place.
I'm a dead man!
Who: Hyrum Smith upon being shot in the face, just before his brother Joseph was as well.
Oh Lord, my God…
Who: Joseph Smith, Jr. crying out while being shot by a mob inside Carthage Jail and then falling out of a window.
Uh-oh…
Who: Michael J. Smith , crew member of the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger 51-L mission, 28 January 1986. Last statement recorded on the spacecraft's cockpit voice recorder, less than half a second before the shuttle disintegrated.
My God, don't shoot!
Note: Said during the Shootout on Juneau Wharf
My God, what's happened?
Who: Lady Diana Spencer , 31 August 1997 (after being mortally wounded in a car accident)
My vocabulary did this to me. Your love will let you go on…
Who: Jack Spicer , Poet. Spoken to fellow poet Robin Blaser in a near-coma brought on by Spicer's Alcoholism. [21]
Crito, we ought to offer a cock to Asclepius. See to it, and don't forget.
Who: Socrates , quoted by Plato in Phaedo
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.
It must have been the coffee.
Who: Jack Soo , Actor and Comic, quoted by Hal Linden
Note: This was a reference to the running gag of his character Nick Yemana from the TV show Barney Miller having the reputation for making horrible coffee. According to friend and fellow cast-member Hal Linden, these were Soo's last words before being taken to surgery for cancer of the esophagus.
Not bad. I can't feel a thing.
Before his electrocution in Florida in 1979. He was the first person executed involuntarily after moratorium was lifted
Dan liever de lucht in!
Translation: Rather to blow up, then!
Who: Jan van Speyjk
Dutch naval lieutenant; on February 5, 1831, a gale caused his boat to drift into the quay at the port of Antwerp. Belgians stormed the boat and demanded Van Speyjk take the Dutch flag down. Rather than doing so, he fired a pistol (some versions say he threw a lit cigar — few firsthand witness accounts survive) into a barrel of gunpowder while saying "Dan liever de lucht in" (which translates as, "Rather to blow up, then").
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.
I'm tired.
Going southbound, sir.
Who: Andrew Joseph (Joe) Stack II, software engineer and tax protestor .
As he was preparing to fly his Piper Cherokee PA-28-236 into Building I of the Echelon office complex in Austin, Texas, United States , killing himself and Internal Revenue Service manager Vernon Hunter and injuring 13 others, he radioed the control tower he was flying southbound. The tower operator replied, "Have a great day." [22] Prior to his suicide, Stack posted an anti-government manifesto on his business website. [23]
Not like this. Don't leave me like this.
Who: Layne Staley , lead singer of Alice in Chains
Note: Staley was calling after friend and former bandmate Mike Starr , who angrily stormed out of Staley's apartment following an argument. Staley is believed to have passed away a day later, on April 5, 2002, of a drug overdose. Staley's body wasn't found by police until two weeks after his death.
Es lebe unser heiliges Deutschland!
Translation Long live our holy Germany!
Who: Claus von Stauffenberg , seconds before being executed by a Nazi firing squad for his role in an attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler.
What is the answer? [no response] In that case, what is the question?
Do not walk quite so fast and do hold your head up Marietta.
Who: Adlai Stevenson II , speaking to his girlfriend while walking. He then collapsed and died.
Does my face look strange? . . . My head! My head!
Note: Stevenson collapsed from cerebral hemorrhage and died shortly after.
I'm going to go be with Gloria now.
Who: Jimmy Stewart , speaking of his late wife
Make the world better.
Who: Ida Straus , wife of Isidor Straus , co-owner of Macy's , and victim aboard the Titanic .
Note: She refused to take a lifeboat, which would have meant seperating from her husband.
Heil Hitler! Dies ist mein Purimfest 1946. Ich gehe zu Gott. Die Bolschewisten werden eines Tages Euch auch hängen.
Translation Heil Hitler! This is my Purim celebration 1946. I go to God. The Bolshevists will one day hang you, too.
Who: Julius Streicher , publisher of the infamous Nazi tabloid Der Stürmer and one-time Gauleiter of Franconia, moments before being hanged for crimes against humanity.
Note: Of all the condemned Nazis, he was the only one to salute Hitler before his own execution.
¡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".
Please don't let me fall.
Who: Mary Surratt , before being hanged for her part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. She was the first woman executed by the United States federal government.
I'm not afraid of death. I'm going home.
Who: Patrick Swayze , American actor.
Note: As quoted by his family, prior to his death from pancreatic cancer.
While many of my health issues are clearing up and I'm feeling a bit better. My docs are concerned that my heart has shown no improvement. So tomorrow morning I'm being transferred to Hopkins for further evaluation and testing. Scary, to be sure, but a good thing overall.
Note: This was Swers' last pre-mortem Facebook entry via iPhone on October 28, 2010. She died of peripartum cardiomyopathy on October 31, over a month after her son Isaac Lawrence Swers was born.
I'm going to kill you!
Who: William Howard Taft , 27th President of the United States
It is time for a new direction…
Who: Andrei Tarkovsky , as reported by his wife.
Please — please don't kill me — I don't want to die. I just want to have my baby.
Who: Sharon Tate , victim of confessed murderer Susan Atkins (aka Sadie Mae Glutz) of the Manson family, as reported in the court testimony of Virginia Graham. Atkins told Graham she responded to Tate's plea with: "Look, bitch, you might as well face it right now, you're going to die, and I don't feel a thing behind it."
I am about to die. I expect the summons very soon. I have tried to discharge my duties faithfully. I regret nothing, but I am sorry I am about to leave my friends.
Who: Zachary Taylor , 12th President of the United States
Die, my dear doctor, that's the last thing I shall do!
Who: Mother Teresa (Sept 5, 1997)
Note: 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." St. Therese's last words were quite similar, "Oh, I love him; my God, I love you".
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)
Note: 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.
頼むから仕事をさせてくれ！ (Tanomu kara shigoto wo sasete kure!)
Translation: I'm begging you, let me work!
Who: Osamu Tezuka , legendary Japanese cartoonist and animator
He spoke these words as a nurse took his drawing board from his hospital bed and encouraged him to get some sleep.
Roses plural or Rose's roses with an apostrophe?
Note: Spoke those words to his girlfriend Liz, who told him that her friend had seen white mice and roses. He lapsed into a coma from excessive drinking and died.
Is the mic still on?
Note: Thomas, a death row inmate executed by the state of Texas in 2005 for murder, had made a lengthy final statement before the lethal injection started. After the drugs began to take effect he asked this final question.
Pretty weak, but I'll be all right in a little while, don't worry, darling.
Who: Olive Thomas
Note: Thomas had accidentally ingested a lethal dose of her husband's syphilis medicine, composed of the poisonous compound mercuric bichloride. She died three days later, and her husband, Jack, said that these were her last words, a response to his asking how she felt, before she died later that day.
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.
Note: Said on a suicide note written four days before his death. He was 67 when he took his own life.
Moose … Indian.
Note: These words he had said in a delirium before expiring. When urged earlier to make his peace with God his last coherent response was, "I did not know that we had ever quarreled."
God bless… God damn.
Who: James Thurber , humorist, d. 1961
No, I'm not!
Who: American musician, music historian and ukulele player Tiny Tim (Real name: Herbert Khaury)
Tiny Tim suffered a heart attack while playing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" at a Gala Benefit. His wife asked him if he was okay and he said, "No, I'm not!" After that he collapsed and died at a hospital in Minnesota.
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
Get out here. I'm getting killed.
Timothy Treadwell to his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, as he was being mauled to death by a bear. Huguenard was also killed.
Medred, Craig ( October 9 , 2003 ). " Treadwell: 'Get out here. I'm getting killed' ". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved on 2010-06-02.
 
I am very sorry it is taking me so long to die. The Greater East Asia War was justified and righteous. I am very sorry for the nation and all the races of the Greater Asiatic powers. I wait for the righteous judgment of history. I wished to commit suicide but sometimes that fails.
After unsuccessfully trying to shoot himself in the heart.
Yes.
Note: Her response when asked if she wanted to die.
But the peasants…how do the peasants die?
Note: Last words before being executed by lethal injection
Ha. You're out.
Who: Patrick Tuler
Tuler, a World War I soldier, who was bleeding to death from bullet wounds, said this to an enemy soldier.
אין דבר, טוב למות בעד ארצנו (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.
Variant Translation: It is all right; It is better to die for our country
Note: Modern Israeli jocular rumor claims Trumpeldor's true last words were merely a juicy Russian curse.
The sun is God.
It's in God's hands now.
Who: Nat Turner , immediately before he was hanged.
Good bye. If we meet-
Note: Spoken to his daughter Clara.
Doctor, I'm dying. [Doctor: "I hope not, sir."] Perhaps it is best.
Who: John Tyler , 10th President of the United States
Who: Wilbur Underhill , bank robber.
No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior. In the back I see many potential legends. Some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run forever!
Who: Ultimate Warrior , American professional wrestler.
Note: Spoken on the April 7, 2014 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw , addressing the live audience in what would be his final live appearance. The next day, he would die of a heart attack. Although these are not technically his last words, they are the last words the public heard him say.
Don't pull down the blinds. I feel fine. I want the sunlight to greet me!
Who: Rudolph Valentino , Italo-American actor and Latin Lover.
There is but one reliance.
Who: Martin Van Buren , 8th President of the United States
Genade, genade! We kunnen er toch over praten?
Translation: Mercy, mercy! Can't we talk this over?
Who: Theo van Gogh , Dutch film director and publicist.
Note: Van Gogh said this to his murderer Mohammed Bouyeri, just before the latter stabbed him in his throat.
I wish I could pass away like this.
Who: Vincent van Gogh , Dutch painter.
Note: The famous line "La tristesse durera toujours" ("The sadness will last forever") was spoken on his deathbed, but these were not actually his last words according to his brother, who was with him.
It is hovering and it's not an aircraft.
Note: These were the last recorded words of Valentich, an Australian pilot, who disappeared after contacting air traffic control claiming to be pursued by a purported UFO.
[…] e saio da vida, para entrar na história.
Translation: […] and I leave life so that I can walk into history.
Who: Getulio Vargas , Brazilian President.
Note: These were the last words written in his suicide letter.
Please leave the window open.
Note: These words were said to Varney's companion before dying from lung cancer.
Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope; cecini pascua rura duces.
Translation: Mantua bore me, Calabria snatched me away, now Naples holds me; I sang of pastures, fields, and kings.
Who: Virgil , Roman Poet, he wrote the Eclogues (pastoral poetry), the Georgics (ostensibly a didactic guide to farming), and the Aeneid (the foundation myth of Rome), hence "pastures, fields and kings."
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 devours 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
Note: And indeed, Vespasian was deified after his death. This comment is thought to be sarcastic, expressing Vespasian's disdain for apotheosis.
We made a death pact, and I have to accomplish my part of the deal. Please bury me next to my baby. Please bury me with my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots. Goodbye. With love, Sid.
Who: Sid Vicious , bassist of the Sex Pistols
Note: Talking about his girlfriend, Nancy, who had died a month earlier.
Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something.
Who: Francisco "Pancho" Villa
Note: This quote is apocryphal. A hail of dumdum bullets, normally used for hunting big game like elephants and prohibited in warfare, was fired into Villa's car from ambush, and he was struck in the heart and the head. If these wounds occurred in the initial burst of fire it is unlikely Villa could have said anything. Indeed, Villa's biographer Katz stated that Villa died instantly.
I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.
Who: Booker T. Washington
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. I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.
Who: George Washington , first President of the United States (he had a fear of being buried alive)
Ain't that a bitch.
I am very sensible of the attatchment you show me, and I hasten to thank you for it, as I feel I am now come to my last illness.
Who: James Watt , Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist.
Note: He was speaking to his friends, whom were at his bedside.
I'm out of here, man. I'm gone. Keep me in your hearts.
Who: Kevin Watts
Note: Last words before being executed by lethal injection for a triple murder.
Carry me to the fort, boys. Let's go forward.
Note: The "fort" might be Fort Presque Isle, which is now Erie, PA.
Of course I know who you are. You're my girl. I love you.
Who: John Wayne , spoken to his wife.
Valhalla. Odin. Slay the beast! Valhalla. Odin. Slay the beast! Valhalla. Odin. Slay… the… beast. Valhalla. O…
Who: Gary Roland Welch, murderer executed in Oklahoma in 2012. He began repeatedly chanting this phrase as soon as the lethal injection drugs were pumped into his system; in the middle of his fourth repetition, he fell unconscious, dying soon after. [24]
This is your friend. Don't forget to tell me how your mother is.
Note: Message left on a friend's answering machine before he died.
Go away. I'm all right.
Note: Wells did not realize he was dying.
The best of all is: God is with us.
Get 'em all out of here!
Who: Roy Westerfield, Company Comptroller for Pacific Engineering Production Company of Nevada ( PEPCON ) of Henderson, Nevada
Note: Moments before the plant was engulfed in a massive explosion on 4 May 1988, he was talking to a fire department dispatcher over the telephone, when he shouted those words to fellow employee Bruce Halker, who was guiding other employees out of the building. They were both killed in the explosion. [25]
I know it!
Who: Captain Larry Wheaton to First Officer Roger Pettit of Air Florida Flight 90 , January 13, 1982. Spoken in response to Pettit's comment, "Larry! We're going down, Larry!"
Let's go, I'm ready to go for this thing, we can win this thing!
Who: Dan Wheldon , two time Indianapolis 500 winner and 2005 IndyCar Champion
Note: According to his team owner at the time, Sam Schmidt, these were his last words over his team radio during the early stages of the 2011 IndyCar IZOD World Championships at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Eleven laps into the event, a fifteen-car accident in Turn 3 launched his car into the air, and up against the catchfence, killing him instantly.
Leave me alone - I'm fine.
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 , Father of the Netherlands. He was shot and died soon after.
Oh, what's the bloody point?
Who: Kenneth Williams , British actor and raconteur. This was the final entry in his diary.
You guys doin' that right?
Who: Stanley 'Tookie' Williams , gangster and co-founder of The Crips , d. December 13, 2005. Said to his executioners who appeared to be having trouble operating the machinery.
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.
Who: Wendy O. Williams , punk rock performer (Suicide note - April 6, 1998)
My heart is crying, crying…
Who: Jackie Wilson , American singer and performer
Note: On 29 September 1975, he was singing his hit song "Lonely Teardrops" when he suffered a massive heart attack on stage at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, NJ. The lack of oxygen to his brain left him comatose for the remainder of his life. He died nine years later on 21 January 1984.
Brahms, William B. (2005). Notable Last Facts: A Compendium of Endings, Conclusions, Terminations and Final Events Throughout History. Haddonfield, NJ: Reference Desk Press, Inc . p. 354. ISBN 978-09765325-0-6 .
 .
Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying. Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.
Who: Robert Anton Wilson , Philosopher, Playwright, Science Fiction Author. Final blog entry, five days before his death (6 January 2007)
I'm not going to waste no time talking about my lifestyle, my case, my punishment. Mom, you've been there for me from the beginning. I love you. To my nieces, nephew and uncle I love you very much. Y'all stick together. Don't worry about me. I'm OK.
Who: William James "Flip" Williams, Jr. , executed by the State of Ohio for murder. He was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m. EDT on October 25, 2005 after the lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio. He did not have a last meal request, though did have a cup of coffee. His final statement is recorded above.
I am a broken piece of machinery. When the machine is broken… I am ready.
Who: Woodrow Wilson , 28th President of the United States
I don't want to die.
Note: Spoken to her doctor over the phone two hours prior to her death.
Tell them I've had a wonderful life.
Note: This came as a surprise to the friends that heard this, as he was considered not to have lived an easy life.
Six one going down.
Who: Chief Warrant Officer Cliff "Elvis" Wolcott, pilot of black hawk helicopter Super Six One.
Note: Wolcott's helicopter was shot down by an RPG during the Battle of Mogadishu . This was his last recorded radio transmission; he and copilot CWO Donovan "Bull" Briley were killed in the crash.
Gents, this is an educational project. You are about to witness the damaging effect electricity has on Wood.
Who: Frederick Charles Wood, convicted murderer.
Dearest, I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier 'til this terrible disease came. I can't fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that – everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been. V.
Who: Virginia Woolf , author, in her suicide note to her husband. d. March 28, 1941
Yes, I would just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back, like Independence Day with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I'll be back, I'll be back.
Who: Aileen Wuornos , convicted and executed serial killer.
Spoken to his son shortly before his disappearance in Mexico. His son surmises that Zeta angered the drug cartels with whom he was dealing, who in turn killed him and hid or disposed of the body.
Well, we fooled 'em for a long time, didn't we?
Who: William Henry "Zip the Pinhead" Johnson , spoken to his sister, Sarah van Duyne
Also known as "What-Is-It?", he was a circus sideshow performer, known for his oddly tapered head. While he was presented as a microcephalic (or "pin-head'), he was not one in reality, nor did he have any mental retardation as do authentic microcephalics.
Curtain! Fast music! Light! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show looks good, the show looks good!