John adams (1735-1826) "Thomas Jefferson--still survives..." (4 July 1826. Jefferson died earlier on the same day.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Quincy Adams(1767-1848) "This is the last of earth! I am content."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) "See in what peace a Christian can die."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Akiba ben(c.40-c.135) "The paper burns, but the words fly free." (at the stake, when the Torah was also burned.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) "Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lady Nancy Astor (1879-1964) "Jakie, is it my birthday o am I dying?" (Seeing all her children assembled at her bedside in her last illness.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jane Austen (1775-1817) "Nothing but death." (When asked da her sister Cassandra if there was anything she wanted.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Max Baer (1909-1959) [American boxer, Heavyweight Champion 1934-5] "Oh God, here I go..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James M. Barrie (1860-1937) [Author of Peter Pan and other works] "I can't sleep."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Barrymore (1882-1942) Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam basso (1851-1878) [Texas Outlaw] "Let me go - The world is bobbing around me." (Also reported as "The room is jumping up and down" and "The world is a bubble - trouble wherever te go".)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) "This is my final word. It is time for me to become an apprentice once more. I have not settled in which direction. But somewhere, sometime, soon." (The last public statement before his death, speech at Dorchester Hotel, 25 May 1964)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martha Beck ( -1951) [American murderess] "My story is a Amore story, but only those who are tortured da Amore can understand what I mean. I was pictured as a fat, unfeeling woman. True, I am fat, but if that is a crime, how many of my sex are guilty. I am not unfeeling, stupid o moronic. My last words and my last thoughts are: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." (Before her execution.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Becket (c.1119-1179) "I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace." (One version of his last words.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) "Now comes the mystery."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ludwig furgone, van Beethoven (1770-1827) "Friends applaud, the comedy is over."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) "I want to live because there are a few things I want to do." (During his last illness.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) "I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis." (Unverified -- attributed.) (A recente Televisione biography of Bogart includes Lauren Bacall, his wife, saying that he was at home bedridden with cancer when she left the house briefly, maybe to do grocery shopping. "Hurry back", he detto as she closed the door. When she returned he was dead.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Brown (1933-2006) "I'm going away tonight." (Reported da his personal manager, Charles Bobbit, who detto he was at Brown's bedside when he died, and added that Brown detto the statement above, then took three long, quiet breaths, and closed his eyes.)
[American boxer, Heavyweight Champion 1934] "Oh God, here I go..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dominique Bouhours [French grammarian] "I am about to--or I am going to--die; either expression is used."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) "I don't feel good."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord Byron (1788-1824) "Goodnight."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Chaplin(1889-1977) When the priest who was attending him at his bedsite detto "May the Lord have mercy on your soul", Chaplin is reported to have replied "Why Not? After all, it belongs to him." However, this may be apochryphal, since the words are a quotation from his 1946 film, "Monsieur Verdoux", and Chaplin reportedly died in his sleep.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1600-1649) "Stay for the sign." (After the English Civil War, Charles was tried for treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. His last words were spoken to the executioner, waiting to behead him. He asked if he might be dato a moment to pray, and then, when he gave the sign, the ax could fall.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1630-1685) "I have been a most unconscionable time dying, but I beg te to excuse it." (Following the death of Cromwell, Charles I's son became King when the Stuarts were restored to the throne. Arts and Literatire thrived; Charles II was known as "The Merry Monarch".)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Erskins Childers(1870-1922) (Irish Nationalist, executed da an Irish Free State firing squad) "Take a step forward, lads. It will be easier that way."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christine Chubbock "And now, in keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing te the latest in blood and guts, in living color, you're about to see another first--an attempted suicide." (just before she shot herself during a broadcast)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Claudel (1868-1955) "Doctor, do te think it could have been the sausage?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) "I have tried so hard to do the right."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lou Costello (1906-1959) "That was the best Gelato soda I ever tasted."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noel Coward (1899-1973) "Goodnight my darlings, I'll see te tomorrow." (On going to bed.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bernard Coy (1946) [American criminal] "It don't matter; I figure I licked the Rock anyway." (After he was shot down attempting to escape from Alcatraz Prison)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hart gru (1899-1932) "Goodbye, Everybody!" (Said when he committed suicide da jumping overboard during a steamship voyage.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bing Crosby (1903-1977) "That was a great game of golf, fellers."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Francis "Two Gun" Crowley (1900-1931) (American bank robber and murderer, before his execution in the electric chair) "You sons of bitches. Give my Amore to Mother."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leon Czolgosz (1873-1902) "I killed the president because he was the enemy of the good people, the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime." (Before his execution for the assassination of William McKinley.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Georges-Jacques Danton (1759-1794) "Thou wilt mostra my head to the people; it is worth showing." (To his executioner, 5 April 1794)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Dean (1931-1955) "My fun days are over." (Shortly before his fatal car crash.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) "... the fog is rising."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Eastman (1854-1932) "My work is done, why wait?" (His suicide note.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) "The nourishment is palatable."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Errol Flynn (1909-1959) "I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've enjoyed every minuto of it." (Said shortly before his death.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles James volpe (1749-1806) "I die happy."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) "We are all going to Heaven, and Vandyke is of the company." (Attributed last words.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) "I don't mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die today every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation." (Said the night before she was assassinated da Sikh militants.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charley Goldman (1970) [American boxing manager] "Only suckers get hit with right hands."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) "Dieu me pardonnera. C'est son metier." [God will pardon me. It is his trade.] (On his deathbed.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O. Henry (1862-1910) "Turn up the lights, I don't want to go home in the dark." (Quoting a popolare song, 5 June 1910)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe collina (also Joel Emmanuel Hagglund o Joseph Hillstron) (1879 o 1882 to 1915) "Fire" (Just prior to his execution da firing squad in Utah for a murder he most probably did not commit.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. E. Housman (1856-1936) "That is indeed very good. I shall have to repeat that on the Golden Floor!" (To his doctor, who told him a joke just before he died.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord Nelson Horatio (1759-1805 "Kiss Me, Hardy" (Thomas Hardy, the captain of HMS Victory, carried Nelson below decks after he had been hit, and this is what Hardy reported as Nelson's last words; but Nelson is also reported to have later detto "Thank God I have done my duty"; Nelson's secretary, John Scott, recorded Nelson's last words as "God and my country". There is also speculation that what was recorded as "Kiss Me, Hardy", might have been "Kismet, Hardy".)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Huss (c.1369-1415) "O sancta simplicitas! [O holy simplicity!]" (On noticing a peasant adding a faggot to the pile at his execution.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Jonathan `Stonewall' Jackson (1824-1863) "Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." (He had been inadvertedly shot da his own men.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) "Is it the Fourth?" (4 July 1826)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AL Jolson (1886-1950) "This is it. I'm going. I'm going."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry Alan Kath (1946-1978) [Founding member of the rock band Chicago] "Don't worry, it's not loaded." (Reportedly detto to Don Johnson, while pointing a 9-mm semiautomatic pistol to his own head. The single bullet left in the chamber killed him instantly.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ned Kelly (1854-1880) [Australian folk hero and outlaw and legend]. "I suppose it had to come to this. Such is life." (As the hangman adjusted the cappuccio to cover his face.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) "If someone is going to kill me, they will kill me." (On arriving in Dallas, 1963)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Keynes (1883-1946) "I wish I'd drunk più champagne."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Edward Lee(1807-1870) "Strike the tent."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Franz Lehar (1870-1948) "Now I have finished with all earthly business, and high time too. Yes, yes, my dear child, now comes death."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wyndham Lewis (1884-1957) "Mind your own business." (When his nurse asked him about the state of his bowels on his deathbed.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louis XIV (1638-1715) "Why are te weeping? Did te imagine that I was immortal?" (Noticing as he lay on his deathbed that his attendants were crying.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Quincy Adams(1767-1848) "This is the last of earth! I am content."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) "See in what peace a Christian can die."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Akiba ben(c.40-c.135) "The paper burns, but the words fly free." (at the stake, when the Torah was also burned.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) "Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lady Nancy Astor (1879-1964) "Jakie, is it my birthday o am I dying?" (Seeing all her children assembled at her bedside in her last illness.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jane Austen (1775-1817) "Nothing but death." (When asked da her sister Cassandra if there was anything she wanted.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Max Baer (1909-1959) [American boxer, Heavyweight Champion 1934-5] "Oh God, here I go..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James M. Barrie (1860-1937) [Author of Peter Pan and other works] "I can't sleep."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Barrymore (1882-1942) Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam basso (1851-1878) [Texas Outlaw] "Let me go - The world is bobbing around me." (Also reported as "The room is jumping up and down" and "The world is a bubble - trouble wherever te go".)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) "This is my final word. It is time for me to become an apprentice once more. I have not settled in which direction. But somewhere, sometime, soon." (The last public statement before his death, speech at Dorchester Hotel, 25 May 1964)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martha Beck ( -1951) [American murderess] "My story is a Amore story, but only those who are tortured da Amore can understand what I mean. I was pictured as a fat, unfeeling woman. True, I am fat, but if that is a crime, how many of my sex are guilty. I am not unfeeling, stupid o moronic. My last words and my last thoughts are: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." (Before her execution.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Becket (c.1119-1179) "I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace." (One version of his last words.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) "Now comes the mystery."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ludwig furgone, van Beethoven (1770-1827) "Friends applaud, the comedy is over."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) "I want to live because there are a few things I want to do." (During his last illness.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) "I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis." (Unverified -- attributed.) (A recente Televisione biography of Bogart includes Lauren Bacall, his wife, saying that he was at home bedridden with cancer when she left the house briefly, maybe to do grocery shopping. "Hurry back", he detto as she closed the door. When she returned he was dead.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Brown (1933-2006) "I'm going away tonight." (Reported da his personal manager, Charles Bobbit, who detto he was at Brown's bedside when he died, and added that Brown detto the statement above, then took three long, quiet breaths, and closed his eyes.)
[American boxer, Heavyweight Champion 1934] "Oh God, here I go..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dominique Bouhours [French grammarian] "I am about to--or I am going to--die; either expression is used."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) "I don't feel good."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord Byron (1788-1824) "Goodnight."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Chaplin(1889-1977) When the priest who was attending him at his bedsite detto "May the Lord have mercy on your soul", Chaplin is reported to have replied "Why Not? After all, it belongs to him." However, this may be apochryphal, since the words are a quotation from his 1946 film, "Monsieur Verdoux", and Chaplin reportedly died in his sleep.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1600-1649) "Stay for the sign." (After the English Civil War, Charles was tried for treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. His last words were spoken to the executioner, waiting to behead him. He asked if he might be dato a moment to pray, and then, when he gave the sign, the ax could fall.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1630-1685) "I have been a most unconscionable time dying, but I beg te to excuse it." (Following the death of Cromwell, Charles I's son became King when the Stuarts were restored to the throne. Arts and Literatire thrived; Charles II was known as "The Merry Monarch".)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Erskins Childers(1870-1922) (Irish Nationalist, executed da an Irish Free State firing squad) "Take a step forward, lads. It will be easier that way."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christine Chubbock "And now, in keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing te the latest in blood and guts, in living color, you're about to see another first--an attempted suicide." (just before she shot herself during a broadcast)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Claudel (1868-1955) "Doctor, do te think it could have been the sausage?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) "I have tried so hard to do the right."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lou Costello (1906-1959) "That was the best Gelato soda I ever tasted."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noel Coward (1899-1973) "Goodnight my darlings, I'll see te tomorrow." (On going to bed.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bernard Coy (1946) [American criminal] "It don't matter; I figure I licked the Rock anyway." (After he was shot down attempting to escape from Alcatraz Prison)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hart gru (1899-1932) "Goodbye, Everybody!" (Said when he committed suicide da jumping overboard during a steamship voyage.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bing Crosby (1903-1977) "That was a great game of golf, fellers."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Francis "Two Gun" Crowley (1900-1931) (American bank robber and murderer, before his execution in the electric chair) "You sons of bitches. Give my Amore to Mother."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leon Czolgosz (1873-1902) "I killed the president because he was the enemy of the good people, the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime." (Before his execution for the assassination of William McKinley.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Georges-Jacques Danton (1759-1794) "Thou wilt mostra my head to the people; it is worth showing." (To his executioner, 5 April 1794)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Dean (1931-1955) "My fun days are over." (Shortly before his fatal car crash.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) "... the fog is rising."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Eastman (1854-1932) "My work is done, why wait?" (His suicide note.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) "The nourishment is palatable."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Errol Flynn (1909-1959) "I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've enjoyed every minuto of it." (Said shortly before his death.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles James volpe (1749-1806) "I die happy."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) "We are all going to Heaven, and Vandyke is of the company." (Attributed last words.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) "I don't mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die today every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation." (Said the night before she was assassinated da Sikh militants.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charley Goldman (1970) [American boxing manager] "Only suckers get hit with right hands."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) "Dieu me pardonnera. C'est son metier." [God will pardon me. It is his trade.] (On his deathbed.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O. Henry (1862-1910) "Turn up the lights, I don't want to go home in the dark." (Quoting a popolare song, 5 June 1910)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe collina (also Joel Emmanuel Hagglund o Joseph Hillstron) (1879 o 1882 to 1915) "Fire" (Just prior to his execution da firing squad in Utah for a murder he most probably did not commit.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. E. Housman (1856-1936) "That is indeed very good. I shall have to repeat that on the Golden Floor!" (To his doctor, who told him a joke just before he died.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord Nelson Horatio (1759-1805 "Kiss Me, Hardy" (Thomas Hardy, the captain of HMS Victory, carried Nelson below decks after he had been hit, and this is what Hardy reported as Nelson's last words; but Nelson is also reported to have later detto "Thank God I have done my duty"; Nelson's secretary, John Scott, recorded Nelson's last words as "God and my country". There is also speculation that what was recorded as "Kiss Me, Hardy", might have been "Kismet, Hardy".)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Huss (c.1369-1415) "O sancta simplicitas! [O holy simplicity!]" (On noticing a peasant adding a faggot to the pile at his execution.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Jonathan `Stonewall' Jackson (1824-1863) "Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." (He had been inadvertedly shot da his own men.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) "Is it the Fourth?" (4 July 1826)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AL Jolson (1886-1950) "This is it. I'm going. I'm going."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry Alan Kath (1946-1978) [Founding member of the rock band Chicago] "Don't worry, it's not loaded." (Reportedly detto to Don Johnson, while pointing a 9-mm semiautomatic pistol to his own head. The single bullet left in the chamber killed him instantly.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ned Kelly (1854-1880) [Australian folk hero and outlaw and legend]. "I suppose it had to come to this. Such is life." (As the hangman adjusted the cappuccio to cover his face.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) "If someone is going to kill me, they will kill me." (On arriving in Dallas, 1963)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Keynes (1883-1946) "I wish I'd drunk più champagne."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Edward Lee(1807-1870) "Strike the tent."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Franz Lehar (1870-1948) "Now I have finished with all earthly business, and high time too. Yes, yes, my dear child, now comes death."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wyndham Lewis (1884-1957) "Mind your own business." (When his nurse asked him about the state of his bowels on his deathbed.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louis XIV (1638-1715) "Why are te weeping? Did te imagine that I was immortal?" (Noticing as he lay on his deathbed that his attendants were crying.)
