Last Words
- ‘Yes, but not too much‘, Dutch poet Gerrit Achterberg, in response to his wife’s question: ‘Shall I bake some fried potatoes?’ (he died of a heart attack).
- ‘Don’t let me die like this, say I said something’. Emiliano Zapata), Mexican revolutionary during the Mexican Revolution.
- ‘The best of all is: God is with us’. John Wesley.
- ‘Am I dying, or is this my birthday?’ Lady Nancy Astor.
- Die, my dear doctor, that’s the last thing I shall do!’ Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston.
- ‘Is it not meningitis?’ Louisa May Alcott (author of ‘Little Women’), who died of suspected mercury poisoning.
- ‘Damn it…don’t you dare ask God to help me’, Joan Crawford, actress (to her housekeeper)
- ‘Now it’s every man for himself’ Captain Edward John Smith, commander of the RMS TITANIC.
- ‘May God have mercy on the assassins’ Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, (fatally shot while saying Mass in San Salvador by a death squad assassin), whom Romero presumably saw.
- ‘Pardon me, sir. I did not do it on purpose’. Marie Antoinette (As she approached the guillotine, convicted of treason and about to be beheaded, she accidentally stepped on the foot of her executioner).
- ‘I’d like to be in hell in time for dinner’. Edward Ruloff, a convicted serial killer and last person to be executed by hanging in New York.
- ‘Every damn fool thing you do in this life you pay for’, Edith Piaf, singer.
- ‘I’m shot. I’m shot’. John Lennon, singer.
- ‘Does nobody understand?’ James Joyce, author.
- ‘Shazbot. Nanu nanu’. Bon Scott, lead vocalist of rock band AC/DC.
- ‘I am in the land of the dying, and I am soon going to the land of the living’ John Newton, Anglican preacher, abolitionist, and writer of “Amazing Grace.”
- ‘The car seems OK’ Ayrton Senna, three times Formula One World Racing champion
- ‘Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel’, George Appel, executed by electric chair in 1928.
- ‘I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.’ Che Guevera
- They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance’ John Sedgwick, a Union Civil War general who was hit by sniper fire a few minutes later.
- ‘Pee pee’. Freddie Mercury, singer, dying of AIDS, asking to be helped to the toilet.
- ‘More milk’. Michael Jackson, singer
- ‘All my possessions for a moment of time’ Elizabeth 1, Queen of England
- ‘Don’t die like I did’. George Best, footballer.
- ‘Work hard to gain your own salvation‘. Buddha
- ‘And now, in keeping with Channel 40’s policy of always bringing you the latest in blood and guts, in living color, you’re about to see another first — an attempted suicide’.Christine Chubbock, who shot herself during a broadcast
- ‘You have won, O Galilean’ Emporer Julian, having attempted to reverse the official endorsement of Christianity by the Roman Empire.
- ‘It is finished’, Jesus on the Cross, before he was raised again to life.
Two of my favourite ‘last words’ are these:
“Now is not the time for making new enemies.” Voltaire, on being asked by a priest to renounce Satan on his deathbed.
“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.” Oscar Wilde on his deathbed.
Thanks for this, Emma – was interesting and sobering – we’ll all say our last words one day!
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I love the last words allegedly said by General John Sedgwick’s, who was serving as a Union commander in the American Civil War.
“What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”
He was hit by sniper fire a few minutes after saying them, at the battle of Spotsylvania to his men who were ducking for cover, on May 9, 1864.
Thank you so much for this. I really needed to be reminded just how beautifully Jesus has taken the sting out of death today.
I think we could all learn a bit from Queen Elizabeth I’s last words… too much value places on STUFF, only to realise at the end how empty it all is…
These are brilliant – thanks!