# Famous Last Words



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Seamus Heaney died this year - rest in peace. He was a great poet and a really nice man. I was so touched to read that his last words were in a text message to his wife, 'Noli timere' - 'Do not be afraid.'

It got me thinking about people's last words. There are some striking ones, and some odd and even hilarious ones too. I don't want to go yet, but I'd love to say something remarkable when I do; probably, though, it would be something on the lines of 'Could you open the window, please' or 'pass me the ....'

This is the thread of epitaphs & last words - things that illuminate the 'interesting thing'* for us. Do not be afraid of posting something profound; but jokes are perfectly in order. 

* Henry James, the novelist, said on his deathbed: 'So it has come at last - the *interesting thing*!'


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

*Julia Margaret Cameron* (1815-1879) was a famous Victorian character, one of the Pattle sisters, all gorgeous but eccentric. It was said of them, 'There are men, women ... and Pattles.'

At the age of 48 she was bought a camera by her daughters and went in for artistic photography. For a time she lived near Tennyson on the Isle of Wight and dragooned him into posing for her Shakespearean scenes. Her most famous picture is this beautiful portrayal of the sixteen year old actress Ellen Terry, entitled Sadness. Ellen was married to G. F. Watts, the artist, thirty years older than her, but the marriage came to grief very quickly over her hoydenish behaviour - she let her hair tumble down & burst into giggles at a Victorian dinner party!









Eventually Julia Margaret Cameron went back east with her husband and died in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in her early sixties.

She was an attractive character, and her last request was that someone draw back the curtain. She turned her eyes to the brilliant tropical stars, murmured '*Beautiful*!' and died.

Says it all, really!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Personally, I'd like mine to be those of Stephen in Acts 7:59: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Gracious words, considering that at the time, they were pelting him to death with stones.


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## JCarmel (Feb 3, 2013)

Hope that I can remember that quote by Henry James, on mine!
I'll have to think about this one, Ingenue, though my mind immediately went to Christ's last words on the cross...
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

George Harrison: "Love one another"


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## Musician (Jul 25, 2013)

JCarmel said:


> Hope that I can remember that quote by Henry James, on mine!
> I'll have to think about this one, Ingenue, though my mind immediately went to Christ's last words on the cross...
> "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."


I really love the ending statements of this Biblical Verse:

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

"If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, 'Let us follow other gods' (gods you have not known) 'and let us worship them,' you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is *testing* you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. *Keep his commands* and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. *That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow.You must purge the evil from among you."*


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

It may be apocryphal, but I am a bit fond of the (supposed) exchange between Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein.

Stein was on her deathbed. With all the emotion and exasperation of one tending a beloved partner who is dying, Toklas blurted out, "What is the answer?"

G. Stein. "In that case, what is the question?""


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

"Tell them I've had a wonderful life" - Ludwig Wittgenstein


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

_Confusion will be my epitaph.
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back
and laugh.
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying.
Yes I fear tomorrow I'll be crying._

Epitaph
In The Court Of The Crimson King


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring" - Richard Feynman

(he was diagnosed with two different and unrelated types of rare cancer)


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

"LSD, 100 µg, intramuscular" - Aldous Huxley (on a sheet of paper, he couldn't speak)


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

aleazk said:


> "LSD, 100 µg, intramuscular" - Aldous Huxley (on a sheet of paper, he couldn't speak)


On a very eventful 22 November 1963


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Sir Walter Scott, novelist, to his son-in-law John Lockhart: 
:angel: '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.'


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

'Put out the bloody cigarette.'
The British short story writer Saki (Hector Hugh Munro, 1870-1916) to a comrade in the trenches of WWI, just before he was shot by a German sniper.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

"Play Mozart in memory of me- and I will hear you." [Chopin]


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Ingenue said:


> 'Put out the bloody cigarette.'
> The British short story writer Saki (Hector Hugh Munro, 1870-1916) to a comrade in the trenches of WWI, just before he was shot by a German sniper.


There must be a word much more extreme than ironic for that one.


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## Guest (Sep 17, 2013)

Not really his last words, but on his gravestone : "I told you I was ill". 
Thank you Spike Milligan.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Beethoven, on receiving a case of wine asked for earlier: "A pity, too late." I'm sure his friends enjoyed the wine though!


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Erskine Childers as he faced a firing squad after shaking their hands :

"Take a step or two forward, lads. It will be easier that way."

Major John Sedgwick was the highest ranking Union casualty in the Civil War, killed by a sharpshooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He said

"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 in the face shortly afterwards.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

TalkingHead said:


> Not really his last words, but on his gravestone : "I told you I was ill".
> Thank you Spike Milligan.


Chichester Diocese objected to this so a compromise was reached with the Irish translation "Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite", and, additionally in English, "Love, light, peace".


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

King George the Fifth's last words were: "Bugger Bognor". (Bognor Regis, a seaside resort in England).


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## classicjenni (Sep 6, 2007)

"I have not told half of what I saw." said by: Marco Polo  Witty.


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## Guest (Sep 17, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Beethoven, on receiving a case of wine asked for earlier: "A pity, too late." I'm sure his friends enjoyed the wine though!


A case of Hungarian Tokay I believe. Bet Schindler nabbed that pretty quickly.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Taggart said:


> Major John Sedgwick was the highest ranking Union casualty in the Civil War, killed by a sharpshooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He said
> 
> "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 in the face shortly afterwards.


Ofttimes reported (surely too good to be true) as: "....hit an elephant at this dist"


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Kleinzeit said:


> Ofttimes reported (surely too good to be true) as: "....hit an elephant at this dist"


That's the version I started with but checked to be sure and found it probably was apocryphal. Shame really!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

KenOC said:


> Beethoven, on receiving a case of wine asked for earlier: "A pity, too late." I'm sure his friends enjoyed the wine though!


Oddly, Brahms' last words were reported to be "Oh, that tastes nice. Thanks" when given a sip of wine.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Before being executed in Texas in 2000, John Albert Burks used his last words to offer encouragement to his favorite team:

"“The Raiders are going all the way y’all.” 

The fact that a convicted murderer would root for the Raiders is simultaneously funny and completely unsurprising.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I remembered these words from someone _in extremis_, and had always found them comforting:

"If I had strength to hold a pen I would write down how *easy and pleasant* a thing it is to *die*." :angel:

Then I read that they were spoken by an eighteenth-century Scottish physician and anatomist, Dr William Hunter, and that he was so successful because he had plenty of dead human specimens to dissect - so many (especially of pregnant women) that he was suspected of having them murdered to order, a la Burke & Hare. :devil:

It looks as if he might more aptly have said, 'how *easy and pleasant* a thing it is to *kill*...!'

It's rather put me off!


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> I remembered these words from someone _in extremis_, and had always found them comforting:
> 
> "If I had strength to hold a pen I would write down how *easy and pleasant* a thing it is to *die*." :angel:
> 
> ...


I _had_ a piece of Italian cake on a fork going to my mouth.

...

The quote rather put me off, too.... ... ....


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Taggart said:


> Erskine Childers as he faced a firing squad after shaking their hands :
> 
> "Take a step or two forward, lads. It will be easier that way.".


That reminded me of Dutch WW2 resistance fighter Hannie Schaft. She was executed by the Germans, but was only wounded by the first round. She said to her executioners: "I shoot better than you", after which they took a machine gun to finish her off.


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## Guest (Sep 18, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> That reminded me of Dutch WW2 resistance fighter Hannie Schaft. She was executed by the Germans, but was only wounded by the first round. She said to her executioners: "I shoot better than you", after which they took a machine gun to finish her off.


Talk about *overkill*, hey?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Taggart said:


> Major John Sedgwick was the highest ranking Union casualty in the Civil War, killed by a sharpshooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.


Curious...how could a major be the highest ranking casualty when many colonels and generals lost their lives? Am I missing something? (Added: Checked on this. Sedgwick was in fact a major general, highest ranking death based on date of rank. Wiki may be wrong about "highest ranking casualty" because casualties include those wounded.)


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## Guest (Sep 18, 2013)

*Anton Webern'*s : _Got a light, Yank?_


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

TalkingHead said:


> *Anton Webern'*s : _Got a light, Yank?_


Wrong question, wrong timing, wrong place. Oops.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I'm not sure about the trustworthiness of his account, but Stravinsky (in conversation with Robert Craft) has this to say of his last meeting with Erik Satie: 

"Satie's own sudden and mysterious death touched me, too. He had been turned towards religion near the end of his life and started going to Communion. When I saw him after a church service one morning, he remarked in that matter-of-fact way of his, 'Alors, j'ai un peu communiqué ce matin.' He became ill very suddenly and died quickly and quietly."


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Some Australian ones:

"Such is life" -* Ned Kelly*, Australian Bushranger, before being hanged.

"Shoot straight, ya ********!" - *Breaker Morant*, before being shot by a firing squad in South Africa.

''Get a move on, I haven't much time'' - *Raymond Bailey*, hanged in 1958 for shooting dead three strangers in the Australian outback, smilingly joking to his executioner.

More here.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

'I am just going outside, and may be some time.'

For sheer understated British heroism, there's nothing to beat the reputed words of Captain Lawrence 'Titus' Oates as he walked to his death out of Scott's tent on the night of his 32nd birthday, 17th March 1912, knowing that he couldn't keep up & not wanting to jeopardise his comrades on the ill-fated Antarctic expedition, when Amundsen pipped them to the post.

Trust Wiki to spoil it! They say there's doubt over the words as, though Scott wrote the words down in his own diary, Edward Wilson, another team member, doesn't mention them in his, nor in the letter that Oates entrusted him to send to his mother when he knew he wasn't going to survive. But after all, since in a way, Oates' death was 'suicide', the latter fact is understandable.

So - 'When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.'


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Todd Morgan Beamer (November 24, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93 which was hijacked as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was one of the passengers who attempted to foil the hijacking and reclaim the aircraft, which crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Beamer tried to place a credit card call through a phone located on the back of a plane seat but was routed to a customer-service representative instead, who passed him on to GTE supervisor Lisa Jefferson. Beamer also recited 23rd Psalm with Jefferson. According to Jefferson, Beamer's last audible words were "Are you guys ready? Okay, let's roll."


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Taggart said:


> Todd Morgan Beamer (November 24, 1968 - September 11, 2001) was a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93 which was hijacked as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was one of the passengers who attempted to foil the hijacking and reclaim the aircraft, which crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
> 
> Beamer tried to place a credit card call through a phone located on the back of a plane seat but was routed to a customer-service representative instead, who passed him on to GTE supervisor Lisa Jefferson. Beamer also recited 23rd Psalm with Jefferson. According to Jefferson, Beamer's last audible words were "Are you guys ready? Okay, let's roll."


When I hear or read about this, it always brings tears to my eyes. Such gallantry! :tiphat:


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> When I hear or read about this, it always brings tears to my eyes. Such gallantry! :tiphat:


You're probably aware, but the incident was immortalized in a song by the Canadian songwriter Neil Young:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I wasn't aware, Blancrocher, so thank you for that. I'm listening to it just now, and it's sending shivers down my spine...


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Ondine said:


> _Confusion will be my epitaph.
> As I crawl a cracked and broken path
> If we make it we can all sit back
> and laugh.
> ...


where's that from? (20 chars)


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Goodnight my kitten.
Alleged by Ernest Hemmingway


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## Ryan (Dec 29, 2012)

Wow what a great time - Me 2147 A.D


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

"I'm leaving this site." ~ Unless they are banned, they'll more than likely "be baaaaack."


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Ondine said:


> _Confusion will be my epitaph.
> As I crawl a cracked and broken path
> If we make it we can all sit back
> and laugh.
> ...





HaydnBearstheClock said:


> where's that from?


I've added (in bold) to Ondine's post to show (more clearly) the location. This was a famous album of the late 60's early 70's famous for being pressed in red vinyl. The front cover was rather striking.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

It was all the rage. A friend gave me his copy & I'd listen to the surreal lyrics, a bit Bob-Dylanish, and feel really stylish. 

Here is a sample stanza from the Title Song, wedged in my memory, which will give a flavour: 

On soft grey mornings widows smile;
The wise men share a joke;
I try to read divining signs
To satisfy the hoax.
The yellow jester does not speak
But softly pulls the strings
And smiles to see the puppets dance
At the Court of the Crimson King.

Hmm. Glad I got being stylish out of my system; the phase lasted six months; then I went back to being a young fogey, and now a rather older one!


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Back to topic:

*'Don't disturb my equation.'*

The last words of *Archimedes* in Sicily (Syracuse). He was drawing a mathematical equation in the dust. A Roman soldier of the army that had captured the city was ordered to bring him in alive, but after failing to get Archimedes' attention, he killed him in a fit of annoyance. He was executed for that breach of orders, but poor Archimedes seems to have been the earliest example of an Absent-minded Professor.

Devotion to mathematics can go no further. 

*Edit: Also reported as 'don't disturb my circles' - a geometry problem.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

JCarmel said:


> Hope that I can remember that quote by Henry James, on mine!
> I'll have to think about this one, Ingenue, though my mind immediately went to Christ's last words on the cross...
> "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."


*'May God have mercy on the assassins!'*

I have just found out that these were the last words of *Archbishop Oscar Romero*, shot by a government hit squad in 1980 while saying Mass in San Salvador. He was shot from the entrance of the church & presumably saw his murderers rushing in.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Joseph Haydn -- "Children be comforted, I am well."


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## RonP (Aug 31, 2012)

I think in some parts of Virginia, it's more like, "Hold my beer and watch this...."


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