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famous last words (enc)
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Famous Last WordsFor sarcastic or humourous phrases characterised as "famous last words," not actual dying quotes, see the article Famous last words (sarcasm). This article is a list of famous last words, actual phrases attributed to persons near death, sage enough, inspirational or in some way memorable in history. For many so-called "last words" other versions exist, though only the better-phrased have become "canonical". List of famous last words A – M - "I can't sleep."
- "I shall hear in heaven."
- "Does anybody know where I can get some shit?"
- "You too, Brutus?"
- ". . . the fog is rising."
- "It's very beautiful over there."
- "All my possessions for a moment of time."
- "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."
- "The nourishment is palatable."
- "Light! More light!"
- Che Guevara, Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader:
- "I know you have come to kill me. Shoot, coward. You are only going to kill a man."
- "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."1
- "I see a black light."
- Henrik Ibsen, after his housekeeper told a guest he was feeling better:
- "On the contrary!"
- "Tell the men to fire faster and not to give up the ship; fight her till she sinks." His last words are often simply shortened to "Don't give up the ship."
- "Strike the tent." (disputed)
- Karl Marx, on his deathbed, to his housekeeper who had just asked if he had any last words:
- "Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!"
- "Human life is limited; but I would like to live forever."
- "Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!"
N – Z - "Kiss me, Hardy."2
- "Amen..."
- "Drink to me!"
- "Oh Liberty! Liberty! What crimes are committed in your name!"
- "A boy has never wept nor dashed a thousand kim... French Canadian bean soup... The bears are in trouble and the sidewalks are in trouble..."
- John Sedgwick, Union General shortly before being shot by a sharpshooter:
- "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist—"
- "Put me back on the bloody bike"!
- "Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?"
- "I shall soon know the grand secret."
- "La tristesse durera toujours." (Trans: "The Sadness Continues Forever")
- "Woe is me, I think I am becoming a god."
- "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."
- "I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead. Do you understand? ...'Tis well."
- "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has got to go"
- Yi Sun-sin, Korean Adminral during the Joseon Dynasty, after being shot during battle:
- "Keep the drums beating... do not let anybody know I've died."
Notes 1These words are actually from Joseph Addison's Cato. While it is possible Hale decided to "go out" with a literary quotation, it is more probable that his actual last words were "It is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander-in-chief."
2These are the last words traditionally attributed to Nelson (or in an alternative version "Kismet, Hardy"). Historians now believe that his last words were "Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty. Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub." See Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson#Last words.
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