60 Incredible Last Words

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10Karl Marx was a German philosopher, sociologist and revolutionary socialist. He died in 1883 of bronchitis and pleurisy. In the moments before his passing, Marx’s housekeeper came in to record his last words for posterity. He told her to ‘Go on, get out – last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!’

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9Alexander II was the emperor of Russia for twenty-six years during the 19th Century before he was assassinated in 1881. His guards found his mutilated body lying under the seat of his carriage following a bombing plot led by a group of anarchists. His feeble last words were: ‘Home to the palace to die …’

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8Barbara Graham was an American criminal and convicted murderer. Nicknamed ‘Bloody Babs’ by the media, Graham was the third woman in California to be executed by gas. Graham was executed in 1955 at San Quentin. Her last words were: ‘Good people are always so sure they’re right.’

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7James Brown is an American singer and ‘The Godfather of Soul’. He suffered congestive heart failure on Christmas morning of 2006, and died of pneumonia. He was reportedly in no mood to play his hit song ‘I Feel Good’. His last words were: ‘I’m going away tonight.’

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REAL6Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly was an Australian bushranger of Irish descent. Some celebrate him as Australia’s equivalent of Robin Hood, while others think he’s a murderous villain who doesn’t deserve his folklore status. He was hanged at Melbourne Gaol in 1880. With his last words – ‘Such is life’ – Kelly appears to resign to his fate.

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5Dominique Bouhours was a legendary French grammarian with a razor-sharp wit. In 1902, the grammarian and neo-classic essayist uttered his final words before his loved ones, demonstrating his impeccable grasp of language even in the face of near-death frailty. His dying words were: ‘I am about to – or I am going to – die. Either expression is correct.’

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4Nostradamus was a reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. On the day of his death, Nostradamus was working on a quatrain about the end of the world and, with his last words, he seemed to have predicted even his own death. ‘Tomorrow, I shall no longer be here.’

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3Oscar Wilde was an Irish author, poet and playwright. Today he is most famous for his one novel, The Picture of Dorian Grey, and for the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment. Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on November of 1900. Known for his dazzling wit, Wilde’s last words were: ‘Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.’

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2Voltaire was a famous French philosopher and scholar who was known for his wit and for attacking the Catholic Church. He died in 1778 of an illness which varies from report to report. He was asked on his deathbed to forswear Satan, and he replied with these last words: ‘This is no time to make new enemies.’

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1John Barrymore was a beloved American actor on stage, screen and radio. He developed a drinking problem that made him notorious to work with and later died from cirrhosis of the liver and kidney failure, complicated by pneumonia. The last thing he said before dying was: ‘Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.’

 

 

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