"Only a soldier's blanket! Make haste and return it to him at once."[4]
— Ralph Abercromby, Scottish soldier and politician (28 March 1801). Wounded at the Battle of Alexandria, he asked what had been placed under his head and was told it was "Only a soldier's blanket."[note 1]
"Let me die in the old uniform in which I fought my battles for freedom. May God forgive me for putting on any other."[4][note 2]
"Emma, will you? There is no time to be lost."[7]: 42
— Erasmus Darwin, English physician and natural philosopher (18 April 1802), urging his daughter to bleed him
"Stop, go out of the room; I am about to die."[7]: 58 [8]: 197
— George Fordyce, Scottish physician (25 May 1802), to his daughter, who had been reading to him
"Doctor, if I could be the man I was when I was 21 years of age, I would be willing to be stripped stark naked on the top of the Alleghany Mountains to run for my life with the hounds of hell at my heels."[6]
— Daniel Morgan, American pioneer, soldier and politician (6 July 1802), when his physician advised him to settle his affairs
"Ah! The times were good! It was I who was so unhappy."[4]
("Ah! c'était le bon temps! J'étais si malheureuse.")
— Sophie Arnould, French operatic soprano (18 October 1802), when a priest asked how much she had suffered
"I am grateful to Divine Mercy for having left me sufficient recollection to feel how consoling these prayers are to the dying."[7]: 96
— Jean-François de La Harpe, French playwright, writer and literary critic (11 February 1803); his final recorded words, spoken the day before his death
— Robert Emmet, Irish Republican and Irish nationalist patriot, orator and rebel leader (20 September 1803), during execution by hanging for treason. The executioner carried out the hanging in the middle of Emmet's attempt to say "Not yet" for the third time.
— Alexander Hamilton, American statesman (12 July 1804), addressing his wife after being mortally shot by his rival Aaron Burr in a duel
"I shall not live more than two days, therefore make haste."[7]: 186
— William Woodville, English physician and botanist (26 March 1805), to a carpenter he had summoned to measure him for his coffin; final recorded words
"Many things are growing clearer and clearer to me."[9]: 80 [note 7]
— Friedrich Schiller, German writer, philosopher and physician (9 May 1805)
"Taught, half by reason, half by mere decay, / To welcome death, and calmly pass away."[7]: 120
"I have peace of mind. It may arise from stupidity, but I think it is founded on a belief of the Gospel. My hope is in the mercy of God through Jesus Christ."[4]
"It is a great satisfaction to me to know we have beaten the French. I hope the people of England will be satisfied.[7]: 116–117 I hope my country will do me justice."[1][7]: 116–117
— John Moore, British Army general (16 January 1809), mortally wounded at the Battle of Corunna. Moore then spoke of his mother and some other people, including Lady Hester Stanhope, before dying.[7]: 116–117
"I will not abandon the post which Providence has assigned me; I think it my duty not only to sacrifice my pleasure and repose, but my life, should it be necessary, for the safety of my patients."[6]
"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide."[citation needed]
— Tecumseh, leader of the Shawnee (10 September 1813), to his son
"I shall not in fact see the new year which I have just commemorated."[8]: 198
— Johann Georg Jacobi, German poet (4 January 1814), referring to a poem for New Year's Day that he had completed on New Year's Eve; he in fact lived 5 more days
"Leave it alone; I need no medicine; I feel that I am well."[9]: 88
— Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (29 January 1814), to an attendant who brought him medicine
— Empress Joséphine, former wife of Napoleon (29 May 1814), looking at a picture of her former husband, who was exiled to the island of Elba at the time
"If I have been deceived, doubtless it was the work of a spirit; whether that spirit was good or bad, I do not know."[7]: 153
— Joanna Southcott, English self-described religious prophetess (27 December 1814); final recorded words
"I have no religious joys; but I have a hope, in the strength of which I think I could plunge into eternity."[7]: 62
"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 ...[34] Soldiers, fire!"[7]: 124 [34]
— Michel Ney, Marshal of the Empire (7 December 1815). When executed by firing squad, he refused to wear a blindfold and was allowed the right to give the order to fire himself.
"A beautiful day, yes, but— / 'Who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, / This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned; / Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, / Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?'"[6][7]: 118 [note 20]
"I have always loved the Fatherland and I was never a traitor. Forgive me, all; and you soldiers, who have always been my people, keep serving the Fatherland as always the Portuguese have."
("Amei sempre a Pátria e nunca fui traidor. Perdoem-me todos, e vocês soldados, que foram sempre a minha gente, continuem a servir a Pátria como sempre a serviram portugueses…")[37]
— Gomes Freire de Andrade, Portuguese military officer (18 October 1817), sentenced to death after being accused of leading a conspiracy against the country's British military government in the name of King John VI.
"You make me drunk. Pray leave me quiet. I feel it affects my head."[1][7]: 35
"Indolent people! How different your fate would be today if you knew the price of freedom! But it is not too late
see that - although a woman and young - I have more than enough courage to suffer death and a thousand more deaths. Do not forget this example [...] Miserable people, I pity you. Someday you will have more dignity! [...] I am dying to defend the rights of my country."
— Sophie Blanchard, French aeronaut (6 July 1819), prior to lighting fireworks that ignited the gas in her balloon, causing it to crash and Blanchard to fall to her death
"Nostitz, you have learned many a thing from me. Now you are to learn how peacefully a man can die."[38]
— Daniel Boone, American pioneer and frontiersman (26 September 1820)
"Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water out of the side of Christ, strengthen me. Jesus, Mary, Joseph."[7]: 149
— Athanasios Diakos, Greek military commander (24 April 1821), prior to execution for refusal to convert from Christianity to Islam and become an Ottoman officer
"Go my friend, dispatch poor Vasiliky, that these dogs may not profane her beauteous form."[4]
— Ali Pasha of Ioannina, Ottoman Albanian ruler (24 January 1822), ordering that his mistress be killed to save her from enemy soldiers of Mahmud II. Vasiliky was captured but pardoned and lived until 1834.
"Bankhead, let me fall into your arms. It is all over."[1]
— Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Anglo-Irish statesman (12 August 1822); to his personal physician, Dr. Charles Bankhead, after cutting his throat
"Put it down, hussy! Do you think I cannot help myself?"[10]: 47
— Eva Marie Veigel, Viennese dancer and wife of David Garrick (16 October 1822), telling a servant to put down a cup of tea prior to dying at age 98
— Henry Fuseli, Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art (17 April 1825), anticipating the arrival of a friend
"My beautiful flowers, my lovely flowers!"[7]: 137–138
— Jean Paul, German Romantic writer (14 November 1825), touching a wreath of flowers he had been given. Jean Paul had lost his senses of sight and smell before his death.
— John Adams, president of the United States (4 July 1826), unaware that Jefferson had died earlier that same day
The hanging of Jereboam O. Beauchamp.
"Farewell child of sorrow—Farewell child of misfortune and persecution—you are now secure from the tongue of slander—for you I have lived; for you I die."[4]
— Jereboam O. Beauchamp, American lawyer and murderer (7 July 1826), to his wife. Beauchamp had murdered Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp to avenge his wife's honor. Beauchamp and his wife both stabbed themselves on the morning of his execution; his wife died of her wounds, while Beauchamp survived to be hanged.
"Nothing succeeds with me. Even here, I meet with disappointment."[4]
— Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (26 March 1827), being informed that his publisher had gifted him 12 bottles of wine
"Brother, brother, strong evidences, nothing but strong evidences will do in such an hour as this. I have looked here and looked there for them, and all have failed me, and so I cast myself on the sovereign, free and full grace of God in the covenant by Jesus Christ; and there, brother, there I have found peace."[7]: 137
— Legh Richmond, Church of England clergyman and writer (8 May 1827)
— Edward Payson, American Congregational preacher (22 October 1827)
"Children and friends, pay attention to my last words. After I am gone, be kind to the missionaries; be kind also to the other Europeans; welcome them to the shore, trade with them, protect them, and live with them as one people. But if ever there should land on this shore a people who wear red garments, who do no work, who neither buy nor sell, and who always have arms in their hands, then be aware that these are a people called soldiers, a dangerous people whose only occupation is war. When you see them, make war against them. Then, oh, my children, be brave! Then, O friends, be strong! Be brave, that you may not be enslaved, and that your country may not become the possession of strangers."[49]
"Napoleon was a great man and a great general. He conquered armies and he conquered nations. But he couldn't jump the Genesee Falls. Wellington was a great man and a great soldier. He conquered armies and he conquered Napoleon, but he couldn't jump the Genesee Falls. That was left for me to do, and I can do it and will!"[50]
— Sam Patch, American daredevil (13 November 1829), prior to fatal leap from Genesee Falls
1830–1839
"Quick, quick! some vinegar! I am fainting."[9]: 101
— Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (16 May 1830), calling to his physician, who had stepped out of the room
— Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan independence leader and President of Peru and Bolivia (4 June 1830), after being shot while riding in the jungle of Colombia. He was said to be an educated gentleman who had never cursed until that day.
"O God! I am dying." (To his physician) "This is death."[9]: 23 [note 36]
— Dic Penderyn, Welsh laborer and coal miner (13 August 1831), prior to execution by hanging for the non-fatal stabbing of a soldier during the Merthyr Rising. Another man confessed to the stabbing on his deathbed in 1874.
"Only one man ever understood me.[13] And he really didn't understand me."[13][24][note 39]
"I now feel that I am dying. Our care must be to minimize the pain. Do not let any of the servants come into the room, and keep away the youths. It will be distressing to them, and they can be of no service.[4][7]: 113 Yet I must not be alone, and you will remain with me, and you only, and then we shall have reduced the pain to the least possible amount."[7]: 113
— Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher, jurist and social reformer (6 June 1832), to one of his disciples
"I have written nothing which on my deathbed I should wish blotted."[35][note 42]
— Walter Scott, Scottish novelist and poet (21 September 1832)
— John Bannister, English actor and theater manager (7 November 1836)
"What do you think especially gives me comfort at this time? The creation! I ask myself, 'Did Jehovah create the world or did I?' He did! Now if He made the world and all the rolling spheres of the universe, He certainly can take care of me. Into Jesus' hands I can safely commit my spirit!"[64]
"I am about to leave you. I have labored in the sanctuary fifty-three years, and this is my comfort and confidence, that I have never labored without blood in the vessel.[64] Goodbye! Drive on!"[33]: 193 [64]
— Christmas Evans, Welsh nonconformist minister (19 July 1838)
— Thomas Arnold, English educator and historian (12 June 1842), to his physician, who had described his serious prognosis and treatment[citation needed]
"You need not be anxious concerning tonight. It will be very peaceful and quiet with me."[7]: 31
"I have struggled with many difficulties. Some I have been able to overcome and by some I have been overcome. I have made many mistakes but I love my country and have labored for the youth of my country, and I trust no precept of mine has taught any dear youth to sin."[10]: 23 [note 48]
— Noah Webster, American lexicographer and textbook pioneer (28 May 1843)
— William Beckford, English novelist and art collector (2 May 1844), in a message to his daughter
"When I think of the existence which shall commence when the stone is laid over my head, how can literary fame appear to me, to any one, but as nothing? I believe, when I am gone, justice will be done to me in this way — that I was a pure writer.[7]: 30 It is an inexpressible comfort, at my time of life, to be able to look back and feel that I have not written one line against religion or virtue."[7]: 30 [9]: 70 [note 49]
"There, I told you that she would pay it if you went the right way to work with her."[4]
— John Jacob Astor, German-American multi-millionaire businessman (29 March 1848), to his son. Astor had been worried about an overdue rent payment. His son paid the woman's rent and claimed that she had paid it.
— Frederick Marryat, Royal Navy officer and novelist (9 August 1848)
"Go, your countrymen need you. For me, there is now no more you can do."[10]: 30
— Christina Petronella (de Wit) Pretorius, to her husband, Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius, who had been asked to lead the Boers at the Battle of Boomplaats (September 1848)
"I am ready—let there be no mistake and no delay."[7]: 18
— Robert Blum, German democratic politician and revolutionist (9 November 1848), prior to execution by firing squad
"If you will send for a doctor I will see him now."[78][note 53]
"I am food for what I am good for—worms. I ought to have been among other things a good poet. Life was too great a bore on one peg & that a bad one.—Buy for Dr. Ecklin above mentioned Reade's best stomach pump."[4]
— Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, dramatist and physician (26 January 1849), concluding his suicide note
"Did the doctors really say I was not to get up?—If they said so, then I won't get up; but I feel well.—No, I will keep them [the pillows] as the doctors left them."[4]
"I am about to die. I expect the summons soon. I have endeavored to discharge all my official duties faithfully.[7]: 164 I regret nothing, but am sorry that I am about to leave my friends."[7]: 164 [47][note 57]
— Zachary Taylor, president of the United States (9 July 1850), dying in office
"I am weary; I will now go to sleep. Good night!"[7]: 121–122
— August Neander, German theologian and church historian (14 July 1850)
"I can no longer read or write. De Balzac."[4][note 58]
— Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (18 August 1850), written across the bottom of a letter from his wife
"Ah! Coquereau, I forgot to mention one of the greatest faults of my life. I have spoken badly of Charles X!"[4]
— Félix Arvers, French poet and dramatist (7 November 1850), to his confessor
— Frédéric Bastiat, French economist and writer (24 December 1850)
"Yes, yes, Billy! You go down that side on Long Pond, and I'll go this side, and we'll get the ducks."[4]
— John James Audubon, American ornithologist, naturalist and painter (27 January 1851), speaking to his friend William Bakewell while suffering from senility
"Neither life nor death, nor any being can separate us from Him."[4]
("Ó Teixeira? Se tenho perigo, diga-mo; não me engane.")
— Maria II, queen regnant of Portugal (15 November 1853), addressing her surgeon during her eleventh childbirth
"O Paradise! O Paradise! At last comes to me the grand consolation. My prisons disappear; the great of earth pass away; all before me is rest."[7]: 129
"I feel that I must come like the poor publican, like the thief on the cross, and like Mary Magdalene. I must come to the foot of the cross and be saved just in the same manner as they."[9]: 174
— Benjamin Parsons, English congregational minister (10 January 1855)
"Thee while the first Archangel sings, He hides his face behind his wings."[4][86]
— Joseph Beaumont, English Methodist minister (21 January 1855), announcing the first lines of a hymn to his congregation. He then fell dead as they sang the second line.
"My God, my God! Enlighten us. Inspire in a united mankind the love of the good, the love of well being.—To do good, to live for others—that's happiness. Charity, charity, for all the world to be happy. —Widows, small boys—help them."[4]
"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam / Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home / A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there / Which seek thro' the world, is ne'er met elsewhere / Home! Home! / Sweet, sweet home! / There's no place like home / There's no place like home!"[7]: 16–17
— Luigi Lablache, Italian operatic bass (23 January 1858). After singing the first stanza of Home! Sweet Home! on his deathbed, his voice failed at the start of the second stanza.
— Thomas De Quincey, English essayist (8 August 1859), to a vision of his dead sister
"Well, I must arrange my pillows for another night – when will this end!"[10]: 35 [35]
— Washington Irving, American writer and diplomat (28 November 1859)
John Brown's last words, passed to a jailor on his way to the gallows.
"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood.[38] I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done."[note 63]
— John Brown, American abolitionist (2 December 1859), final written words prior to execution by hanging
— James Cameron, Union colonel of the American Civil War (21 July 1861), before being mortally wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run
"There is Jackson standing like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians. Let us determine to die here and we will conquer. Follow me."[4]
— Barnard Elliott Bee Jr., Confederate general of the American Civil War (22 July 1861), before being mortally wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run. His last words gave rise to the nickname of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.
Death of Col Edward D. Baker: At the Battle of Balls Bluff near Leesburg Va. Oct. 21st 1861, by Currier and Ives.
— Edward Dickinson Baker, United States Senator and Union colonel of the American Civil War (21 October 1861), pointing to a Confederate horseman who had been struck by gunfire at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. Baker was then himself shot four times. He was the only sitting United States Senator ever killed in a military engagement.
"Doctor, I am going.[9]: 54 Perhaps it is best."[9]: 54 [47]
— John Tyler, president of the United States (18 January 1862)
"I remember that little fellow who said, 'I love God!' Nothing that loves him shall perish. No, they shall not die. I shall meet them soon in heaven. Amen."[9]: 136
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown, which God, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day. That is my testimony—write it down.—That is my testimony."[4]
— Lyman Beecher, American Presbyterian minister (10 January 1863), quoting 2 Timothy 4:7-8[99]
"Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks....[21][100] Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."[5][21][24][100][101][note 71]
— Stonewall Jackson, American and Confederate soldier and general of the American Civil War (10 May 1863), dying of pneumonia after being wounded by friendly fire
"Forward men forward for God's sake and drive those fellows out of those woods."[102]
"Tell father that I died with my face to the enemy."[4]
— Isaac E. Avery, Confederate officer of the American Civil War (3 July 1863), written on scrap of paper after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg
"Tell my wife I am shot, but we fought like hell."[4]
— William Barksdale, Confederate general of the American Civil War (3 July 1863), to a Union surgeon after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg
"Colonel, rally your men and advance as soon as possible."[4]
— Lewis Benedict, American politician and Union colonel of the American Civil War (9 April 1864), before being killed at the Battle of Pleasant Hill
"Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way.[5][107] They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.[5][108][107][109] [...] All right, my man; go to your place."[107][109][note 75]
— John Sedgwick, Union general of the American Civil War (9 May 1864), shortly before being shot in the head by a Confederate sharpshooter
"That is true glory. I will hear no more."[9]: 35–36
— Park Benjamin Sr., American poet, journalist and editor (12 September 1864), when his wife asked him if he knew her
"I protest against this execution. It is absolute murder—brutal murder. I die in the service and defense of my country."[4]
— John Yates Beall, Confederate privateer (24 February 1865), hanged as a spy by the Union during the American Civil War
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate nationalist, while watching a stage play. Lincoln had recently fought and won a civil war against the Confederate States.
— Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States (15 April 1865), assuring his wife Mary that their friend Clara would not mind them holding hands, shortly before he was fatally shot from behind
"Tell mother, tell mother, I died for my country...useless...useless..."[23][38]
"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."[109]
— Edmund Ruffin, Virginia planter and enslaver (18 June 1865), conclusion of final diary entry before suicide
— Mary Surratt, American boarding house owner (7 July 1865), prior to execution by hanging after conviction for taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln
"I am positioned between Heaven and Earth and feel like I am surrounded by nothing but light. Kiss me one last time! If I have failed in my duties toward you, then forgive me."
("Jag befinner mig mellan himmel och jord och tycker mig omgiven av idel ljus. Kyss mig ännu em sista gång! Om jag brustit i mina plikter mot dig, så förlåt mig.")[134]
— Lovisa, Queen of Sweden and Norway (30 March 1871)
— Edward Thompson Taylor, American Methodist minister (6 April 1871), when a friend asked him if Jesus was precious
"The knowledge of the love of God—the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost be amongst you—amongst us—and remain with us forever."[7]: 110
— Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American biologist and geologist (14 December 1873)
"Linen, doctor? You speak of linen?[10]: 30 Do you know what linen is?[10]: 30 [35] The linen of the peasant, of the worker?[10]: 30 Linen is a great thing. I want to make a book of it."[10]: 30 [35]
— Jules Michelet, French historian (9 February 1874), rambling before his death
"Thou knowest, O Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not Thy merciful ears to our prayer, but spare us, O Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, Thou most worthy Judge Eternal, suffer us not at our last hour, from any pains of death, to fall from Thee."[7]: 95 [9]: 169–170
"I might have lived another year if I had not caught this cold, but I am satisfied to go now. I am eighty-four years old—long past the allotted time of man—and at my age, life becomes a burden."[4]
"Orderly, I want you to take a message to Colonel Benteen. Ride as fast as you can and tell him to hurry. Tell him it's a big village and I want him to be quick, and to bring the ammunition packs."[143][note 86]
— Boston Custer, United States Army civilian contractor, brother of George Armstrong Custer and Thomas Custer (25 June 1876), asking about the location of his brother George prior to his death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
"This time it will serve me for the voyage from which there is no return, the voyage of eternity."[4]
— Claude Bernard, French physiologist (10 February 1878), when a cover was placed to warm his feet
"I hope to be in Phil. in about ten days. I am stronger than for yrs. but take no new responsibilities."[4]
— Catharine Beecher, American educator (12 May 1878); last written words
"Whose house is this? What street are we in?[7]: 24 [10]: 22 Why did you bring me here?[7]: 24 Would you like to see Miss Fairchild?"[10]: 22
— William Cullen Bryant, American poet, journalist and editor (12 June 1878). He had fallen and hit his head on the sidewalk; Miss Fairchild was his niece.
"My work is done. The pins of the tabernacle are taken out."[10]: 54
— Billy the Kid, American outlaw and gunfighter (14 July 1881), entering a dark bedroom whereupon sheriff Pat Garrett shot him after recognizing his voice
"I wish Vaughan to preach my funeral sermon, because he has known me longest."[7]: 157
— Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, FRS, English Anglican priest and ecclesiastical historian (18 July 1881); final recorded words
— Morgan Earp, American lawman (18 March 1882), to his brother Wyatt; the brothers had each promised to describe to the other what he saw at the moment of death
"Now I know that I must be very ill, since you have been sent for."[7]: 99 [8]: 197
"As I stand here today and see what the Institute is, what it has already accomplished, and what it is at present doing, I call to mind the beginnings of science. I remember that one hundred and fifty years ago Stephen Hales published a pamphlet on the subject of illuminating gas, in which he stated that his researchers had demonstrated that 128 grains of[159]bituminous coal —"[15][159][note 93]
— Robert Emmet Odlum, American swimming instructor (19 May 1885), after being fatally injured in dive off Brooklyn Bridge; a friend falsely reassured him that the fluid was only brandy
"This is the fight of day and night. I see black light."[36][164][note 96]
— John George Wood, English writer and populariser of natural history (3 March 1889)
"Well! God's will be done. He knows best. My work, with all its faults and failures, is in His hands, and before Easter I shall see my Saviour."[7]: 172
"A little while and I will be gone from among you. Whither I cannot tell. From nowhere we came, into nowhere we go. What is life? It is a 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."[8]: 198 [24]
— Herman Melville, American novelist (28 September 1891), quoting his final, unfinished novella, Billy Budd
Pedro II, clad in court dress uniform, on his bier, 6 December 1891: the book beneath the pillow under his head symbolized that his mind rests upon knowledge even in death
"May God grant me these last wishes—peace and prosperity for Brazil."[172]
— José Rizal, Filipino nationalist, ophthalmologist and polymath (30 December 1896), quoting Jesus prior to execution by firing squad for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy
"Ah, that tastes nice. Thank you."[10]: 36 [20][24]
("Ah, der schmeckt schön. Danke.")
— Johannes Brahms, German composer (3 April 1897), after being given a glass of wine
"In a few minutes, think that we will see God, that we will be in Heaven."[180]
("Dans quelques minutes, pensez que nous verrons Dieu, que nous serons au Ciel.")
— Thérèse of Lisieux, French Catholic Carmelite nun and mystic (30 September 1897)
"It feels fine to be able to sleep here on fast land as a contrast with the drifting ice out upon the ocean where we constantly heard the cracking, grinding, and din. We shall have to gather driftwood and bones of whales and will have to do some moving around when the weather permits."[182]
"No, Bill, I've got too much Georgia grit for that."[183]
— Richard Von Albade Gammon, American football fullback fatally injured in game (31 October 1897), responding to teammate who asked if he was going to give up
"Take away these pillows, I won't need them any longer."[36][note 106]
— Lewis Carroll, English mathematician and novelist (14 January 1898)
"I am imploring you – burn all the indecent poems and drawings."[24][note 107]
— Aubrey Beardsley, English illustrator and author (16 March 1898)
"I see earth receding; Heaven is opening; God is calling me."[7]: 116 [10]: 54 [73]
— Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher (22 December 1899)
"Jump, Sim, while you have the time."
— Casey Jones, American railroader (30 April 1900), to his fireman shortly before his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train
"When you come to the hedge that we must all go over, it isn't so bad. You feel sleepy, you don't care. Just a little dreamy anxiety, which world you're really in, that's all."[10]: 22
— Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright (30 November 1900)
Notes
^Brahms mistakenly names the occasion of Abercromby's mortal wound as the Battle of Aboukir Bay rather than the Battle of Alexandria.[4]
^Also reported as, "Let me die in this old uniform in which I fought my battles. May God forgive me for ever having put on another."[5][6]
^Also reported as, "I am going to sleep like you, but we shall all wake together, and I trust to lasting happiness" (to his grandchildren and attendants).[7]: 132
^Also reported as, "God forbid that I should be sunk so low as to forget the offices of humanity."[10]: 30
^Also reported as, "I must die then at the hands of Frenchmen!"[11] and as "Grenadiers! lower your arms, otherwise you will miss me or only wound me" (to his firing squad).[7]: 57
^Also reported as, "This is a mortal wound, doctor"[13] and as "God be merciful to ———–"[6]
^Also reported as, "Calmer and calmer" (when asked how he felt).[7]: 144–145 [10]: 25
^Also reported as, "And take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy. Take care of poor Lady Hamilton.[14] Kiss me, Hardy....[5][7]: 122 [14][15] Remember that I leave lady Hamilton and my daughter, Horatia, as a legacy to my country – and never forget Horatia",[14] as "Tell Collingwood to bring the fleet to anchor",[7]: 122 and as "Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub."[5][15]
^Also reported as "Oh, my country! how I leave my country!",[14]"Oh, my country, how I love my country"[7]: 130 [9]: 44 [14] and "Alas, my country!"[1]
^Also reported as, "Trotter will tell you" (words of unclear meaning addressed to his wife. Elizabeth Armistead).[7]: 59
^Year of death incorrectly given by Marvin as 1808.[7]: 132
^Also reported as, "Children be comforted, I am well" (reassuring his servants when cannon shot fell near his house during the French bombardment of Vienna).[4][20]
^Also reported as, "I would give worlds, if I had them, if The Age of Reason had never been published. Stay with me, for God's sake, for I cannot bear to be left alone! Send even a child to stay with me"[6] and as "I have no wish to believe on that subject" (when his physician asked, "Do you wish to believe that Jesus is the Son of God?").[7]: 126
^Also reported as, "That Horace was very well said; you did not do it so well. But it grows dark, very dark—the boys may dismiss."[4]
^Also reported as, "I stand in the presence of my Creator, and standing I will render back my spirit to God who gave it. Fire!"[7]: 80
^Described as "Almost his last words".[25] Also reported as, "Push on, brave York volunteers!"[5][26] as "Surgite!" ("Press on!")[5] and as "Push on, don't mind me."[27]
^Also reported as, "Tell the men to fire faster! Don't give up the ship!",[30] or as a combination of the two versions.[9]: 59
^Just before his death Morris also said, "Sixty-four years ago, it pleased the Almighty to call me into existence—here, on this spot, in this very room; and now shall I complain that he is pleased to call me hence?"[7]: 118
^Also reported as, "Heavily, like a big peasant woman" (when asked how she was going to sleep).[10]: 34
^Also reported as, "If I cannot be useful, I do not wish to live."[4]
^Also reported as, "Sire grâce, grâce pour la vie de l'homme!" ("Sir, pardon, pardon the life of the man!"), pleading with Louis XVIII for the life of his assassin, Louis Pierre Louvel.[4] Nonetheless, Louvel was guillotined.
^Also reported as, "I feel the flowers growing over me",[1][7]: 93 "I die of a broken heart",[7]: 93 and as "Severn, lift me up, for I am dying. I shall die easy. Don't be frightened. Be firm and thank God it has come."[10]: 22
^Also reported as, "O Hobbema, Hobbema, how I do love thee!"[1][7]: 40
^Also reported as, "Mon Dieu! La nation Française. Tête d'armée!"[1][7]: 121
^Year of death incorrectly given by Marvin as 1823.[7]: 163
^alternatively reported as "Let not my body be sent to England. Here let my bones molder. Lay me in the first corner without pomp or nonsense." (to his physician, Dr. Julius Michael Millingen),[42]: 24 "Io lascio qualque cosa di caro nel Mondo" ("I leave something dear to the World"'),[24]"The damned doctors have drenched me so that I can scarcely stand",[35]"Shall I sue for mercy? Come, come, no weakness: let me be a man to the last."[7] (note: The preceding "last words" are recorded by his biographer Leslie A. Marchand as having been pronounced on various final days of Byron, but are not his last words.) "Now I shall go to sleep. Good night",[24][13]"I want to sleep now"[43] (to his servant Fletcher)
^Also reported as, "What a beautiful day" (when his window blinds were opened)[4] and as "Give me the remedies that you judge necessary" (when his physician suggested applying leeches).[4]
^Possibly only the name "Jefferson..." or "Thomas Jefferson..." was comprehensible.[4][6]
^Also reported as, "The worst is I cannot see."[7]: 162
^Beethoven's last words are subject to ongoing debate;[41] however, these words were his last recorded.
^Also reported as, "I feel like a mote in the sunbeam."[7]: 129
^Also reported as, "Oh! this is the last of all" (grasping his physician's hand).[9]: 95
^Also reported as, "Watty, what is this? It is death, my boy. They have deceived me" (to his physician, Sir Jonathan Wathen Waller).[1][7]: 66
^Also reported as, "I have led a happy life."[1][7]: 75
^Also reported as, "Fetch the luggage. They do not want us here."[5]
^Also reported as "Immer nur Du hast mich verstanden … und Sie haben es falsch" ("Only you have ever understood me … and you got it wrong"), addressed to his favorite student.[24]
^Also reported as "Mehr Licht!" ("More light!"),[1][7]: 66 [8]: 198 [10]: 15 [13][15][24][56]"Please open the second window of the bedroom so that more light can enter",[56] and, to his daughter-in-law Ottilie von Pogwisch, "Komm, meine Kleine, und gib mir deine Hand" ("Come, my little one, and give me your hand").[24]
^Also reported as saying to his daughter, who was drinking lemonade he had refused, "It is delightful to see those whom I love still able to swallow."[7]: 41 [8]: 197–198
^Also reported as, "Be virtuous, be religious, be a good man; nothing else can give you any comfort when you come to lie here" (to his son-in-law),[9]: 70 as "God bless you all.[1][7]: 147 I feel myself again" (to his family),[1] and as "I feel as if I were to be myself again."[7]: 147
^Also reported as, "Gentlemen, you are all dismissed"[4][58] and as "Gentlemen of the jury, you will now consider of your verdict."[4][7]: 164
^Marvin describes these last words as doubtful.[7]: 134
^Also reported as, "Heaven!"[7]: 183 [10]: 55 and as "I now feel so weaned from earth, my affections so much in heaven, that I can leave you all without regret; yet I do not love you less, but God more."[7]: 183
^Also reported as, "In life and in death, I am the Lord's."[7]: 88
^Also reported as, "I always talk better lying down."[1][6]
^Webster's first name is incorrectly given by Ward as "Daniel".[10]: 23
^Not necessarily Campbell's very last words.[9]: 70
^Also reported as, "That's right, Brother Taylor; parry them off as well as you can."[7]: 151–152
^Date of death incorrectly given by Marvin as July 1844.[7]: 170
^Also reported as, "I hope to meet each of you in heaven. Be good, children, all of you, and strive to be ready when the change comes"[47] and as "My dear children, do not grieve for me...I am my God's. I belong to Him. I go but a short time before you, and...I hope and trust to meet you all in heaven."[73] Jackson subsequently asked an enslaved person named George to remove two of his three pillows.[72]
^Also reported as, "No, no!" (when one of her sisters asked her to allow herself to be put to bed).[7]: 21
^Also reported as, "Jouez Mozart en mémoire de moi et je vais vous entendre" ("Play Mozart in memory of me – and I will hear you")[24] and "Maintenant, j'entre en agonie. Plus" ("Now is my final agony. No more").[10]: 38 [20]
^Also reported as, "I am perfectly comfortable."[9]: 35
^Also reported as, "I am prepared to die. I have faithfully endeavored to do my duty"[9]: 53 and as "I have tried to do my duty, and am not afraid to die. I am ready."[1]
^Also reported as, "Ah yes! I know. I need Bianchon—Bianchon would save me!" ("Ah oui! Je sais. Il me faudrait Bianchon—Bianchon me sauverait lui!") or as "Go look for Bianchon" ("Allez chercher Bianchon!"), referring to Doctor Horace Bianchon, a recurring character in Balzac's novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Writer Michael D. Garval referred to the reference to Bianchon as too good to be true.[4]
^Also reported as "Life, life! Death, death! How curious it is!"[9]: 40
^These are the Queen's last recorded words; the Cardinal Patriarch arrived shortly afterward and she is known to have recited the Act of Contrition and confessed.
^Also reported as, "Set your mind at rest,[7]: 75 God will pardon me. That's his line of work" ("Gott wird mir vergeben. Das ist seine Arbeit")[10]: 26 [23][24] and as "I am done for."[7]: 76
^Also reported as, "Do you hear that? Kitty, that is the death rattle" (to his nurse).[4]
^Brown's final spoken words were, "I am ready at any time—do not keep me waiting."[7]: 22
^Year of death incorrectly given by Marvin as 1869.[7]: 128
^Also reported as, "Beautiful" (when asked how she was feeling).[10]: 19
^Also reported as, "My God, boys, they have got me, but never give up the field."[4]
^Also reported as "Come on, my brave Highlanders!"[95]
^Also reported as, "Let us go over the river, and sit under the refreshing shadow of the trees."[7]: 88
^Also reported as, "Come on boys. Give them the cold steel!"[4] and as "Say to General Hancock for me that I have done him and you all a grievous injury which I shall always regret" (referring to his friend, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock).[4]
^Year of death incorrectly given by Marvin as 1862.[7]: 83
^Egbert mistakenly ascribes these words to Charles Dickens while describing the date and circumstances of Thackeray's death.[9]: 80
^Reports that Sedgwick was shot as he was saying "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!" are apocryphal.[107]
^Described by Egbert as "His last words in the interest of earthly affairs".[9]: 36
^While these were his last words, Lincoln's final utterance was laughter. As the President watched the play Our American Cousin, actor Harry Hawk delivered one of the best lines of the play: "Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal; you sockdologizing old man-trap!" Lincoln was laughing at this line when he was shot.[111][112][113] At the moment of death some observers said his face seemed to relax into a smile. As he died his breathing grew quieter, his face more calm.[114] According to some accounts, at his last drawn breath, on the morning after the assassination, he smiled broadly and then expired.[115][116][117][118][119] Historians, most notably author Lee Davis, have emphasized Lincoln's peaceful appearance when and after he died: "It was the first time in four years, probably, that a peaceful expression crossed his face."[120][121] Field wrote in a letter to The New York Times: "that there was 'no apparent suffering, no convulsive action, no rattling of the throat...[only] a mere cessation of breathing'... I had never seen upon the President's face an expression more genial and pleasing."[122][123] The President’s secretary, John Hay, saw "a look of unspeakable peace came upon his worn features".[124]
^Also reported as, "Gentlemen, I did not harm a single hair on that fair lady's head"[127] and as "You have such a nice clean rope, I ought to have washed my neck."[128][129]
^Also reported as, "Whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that at least I meant well for my country."[38]
^Also reported as, "Enfin, on va joue ma musique" ("They are finally going to play my music"),[4]"Oh, Mere Recio, it is finished!",[4] and as either "Ça m'est égal" ("It doesn't matter to me") or as "That is my signal" (after quoting Macbeth Act V, Scene 5, lines 24–28, from the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy).[4]
^Sometimes incorrectly stated to have been "I die with my homeland" ("Muero con mi patria.").[131]
^These reported last words have been questioned due to conflicting accounts and Lee's aphasia at the time of his death.[133]
^Conradt comments on the similarity to Andrew Jackson's last words (ibid.).[47]
^Also reported as, "Laissez la verdure."[1][7]: 142
^Also reported as, "Custer's luck! The biggest Indian Village on the Continent!"[144]
^Also reported as, "I am very ill. Is it not strange that these people should have chosen the very oldest man in all Britain to make suffer in this way?" (when James Anthony Froude said they might have reasons) "Yes, it would be rash to say that they have no reasons."[7]: 30
^Also reported as, "More quickly—inside—carry me to the palace—there—to die", "Quick—home—take me to the palace—there—to die", and as "Home to die—It's cold."[4]
^It is also claimed he said "What are those men doing out there, Don Pedro?" (¿Qué hacen esos hombres ahí fuera, don Pedro?").[153][154]
^Also reported as, "I think I shall die to-night."[7]: 140
^Also reported as, "My memory goes back one hundred and fifty years."[159]
^Also reported as, "Tell the doctors it is impossible for me to record the words of a dying man. It would be interesting to do so, but I cannot. My time has come. I hope others will carry on my work."[4]
^Also reported as, "Love -- Tragedy" (the last words Wagner wrote on a score).[20]
^Also reported as, "C'est ici le combat du jour et de la nuit."[10]: 23
^Also reported as, "I want nobody distressed on my account."[1]
^Also reported as, "Well, high enough to hit you, doctor" (when his physician asked how high he could raise his arm),[4][10]: 51 "Going out into life–that is dying"[4] and "You were saying that I could not recover."[4]
^Also reported as, "I am seeing things that you know nothing of."[4]
^Also reported as, "Nancy, I want you to know that my last thoughts are of you" (to his wife)[4] and as "How were the circus receipts today at Madison Square Garden?"[4][42]: 11 Brahms describes this last version as "unlikely".[4]
^Also reported as, "Oh, dear, he's a good fellow"[35] and as "O! he's a dear, good fellow" (referring to his friend Thomas Donaldson).[7]: 181
^Also reported as, "Give my love to the world."[7]: 182
^Also reported as, "I have done my work. It is the most natural thing in the world to die; let us accept the Laws of the Universe — the heavens and the earth remain"[7]: 136 and as "Let us submit to the Laws of Nature of which we are one of the manifestations. The heavens and the earth abide."[7]: 136
^Also reported as, "¡Se quiebra pero no se dobla!"[4]
^Although widely reported, whether these were truly Lilienthal's last words is questionable.[178]
^Also reported as, "Take away those pillows; I shall need them no more."[10]: 29
^Also reported as, "I implore you to destroy all copies of Lysistrata[4][184] and bad drawings. Show this to Pollitt and conjure him to do the same.[184] By all that is holy all obscene drawings" (from a letter written to his publisher nine days before his death)[4][184] and as "Burn all my bawdy pictures."[4]
^Also reported as, "Thank you, my child" (to his daughter).[citation needed]
^Also reported as, "No, it's no use—I'm too old."[187]
^Also reported as, "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do"[10]: 27 [15][149] and as "I am dying as I have lived – beyond my means."[35]
^"Beatrice resident saw Lincoln shot". 15 April 2011. I noticed that Mr. Lincoln was laughing at something in the play. Just then I noticed the curtain in the rear of Mr. Lincoln's box pulled apart and I looked squarely at the man as he came in. At first I thought he was one of the theater attendants bringing in a glass of water and decanter, for something shone in each of his hands. Just then a shot rang out.
^Abel, E. Lawrence (2015). A Finger in Lincoln's Brain: What Modern Science Reveals about Lincoln, His Assassination, and Its Aftermath. ABC-CLIO. Chapter 14.
^"President Lincoln's Thoughts on April 14, 1865". When he finally gave up the struggle for life at 7:22 A.M., his face was fixed in a smile, according to one bedside witness, treasury official, a smile that seemed almost an effort of life. Lincoln has passed on smoothly and contentedly, his facial expression suggesting that inner peace that prevailed as his final state of mind.
^Assassinations That Changed The World, History Channel
^"'NOW HE BELONGS TO THE AGES' ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION". Abraham Lincoln died, according to press reports, with a smile on his face. "I had never seen upon the president's face an expression more genial and pleasing," wrote a New York Times reporter.
^Knight, Carley (2010-08-10). "World Digital Library2010251World Digital Library. Washington, DC: UNESCO and Library of Congress 2009-. Gratis Last visited May 2009 URL: www.wdl.org/". Reference Reviews. 24 (6): 6. doi:10.1108/09504121011066923. ISSN0950-4125.
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