Famous last words

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Everybody should at least know a few famous last words... what is your favorite?

John Adams for example uttered the final words "Jefferson sur...(vives)." Ironically, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day... July 4, 1826.

Napoleon Bonaparte uttered the name "...Josephine," his first wife, empress, and arguably his lifes love (although he divorced her to marry Mary-Lousie, part of a marriage accord with austria. Josephine on the other hand (who died some time before Napoleon) uttered the name "Bonaparte" before she passed away. Clearly, there was still something between the two of them. But some are not as dramatic as that.

Here is one of my current favorites. Thomas De Mahay, the Marquis of Favras was among the many nobility who tried to Help Louis XVI escape after he was captured by the French revolutionaries in 1790. He was subsequently convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged. On his way to the gallows, the court clerk handed him his official death sentence. He turned to the court clerk and uttered, "I see you have made three spelling mistakes." Awesome. Just awesome.

Thomas De Mahay... French Aristocrat, Royalist, and dyed-in-the-wool bad-ass. I salute thee sir... I salute thee.

What are you favorite last words?

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@VideCorSpoon,

"Watch this...."

- Many (Often accompanied with "Hold my beer")

1 Reply

@Mr Fight the Power,

Emily Dickinson said, "the fog is rising".

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@Holiday20310401,

Karl Marx: "Last words are for those who haven't said enough!"

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@VideCorSpoon,

Real geniuses - In the words of the immortal Socrates... "I drank what?"

LOL! One can imagine these are last words.

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@VideCorSpoon,

That's right, Vid. LOL, the real Socrates was pwned.
Best Fictional Last Words: "Say hello to my little friend!"

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@VideCorSpoon,

Caligula - "I'm still alive!"

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@VideCorSpoon,

Who is Caligula please Dave Allen pray tell.
Thanks.

---------- Post added 09-20-2009 at 03:15 AM ----------

And what does that statement mean and who does it apply to eh?
Pray, please tell!
Thanks

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@VideCorSpoon,

He was was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41. He is popularly thought of as being the head of a particularly eccentric and sadistic regime - even by Roman standards. Historians argue a great deal about whether he was mad, bad, or mad and bad.

My favourite Caligula anecdote is that he raised an army to conquer Britain but by the time he reached the English Channel he had changed his mind and decided to go to war on Neptune instead. So he had the Roman legion beat the sea with their swords, declared a victory and ordered them to take all the shells off the beach as spoils of war (if the story is true I imagine the soldiers thought they got a good deal out of this - as it counted towards citizenship - but the Roman authorities were probably less than impressed, to put it mildly).

That was his lighter side, however, and after a few years of rule he had made so many enemies that the authorities of Rome arranged his assassination.

Hence his last words (as Camus interprets them anyway).

The Wiki page about him is pretty good if you want to read more: Caligula - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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@VideCorSpoon,

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

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

Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough! - Karl Marx when asked by his housekeeper what his last words were

A nice list of Famous last word here Last words - Wikiquote

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@VideCorSpoon,

"Light, more light!" Goethe

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@VideCorSpoon,

"Don't push that b..."

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@Krumple,

"I was like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great sea of truth lay all undiscovered before me" - Isaac Newton

I don't know if he said that on his deathbed or is those were his last words, but I love them nonetheless.

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@VideCorSpoon,

"LSD, 100μg, IM"

- Aldous Huxley's last words, written to his wife, who promptly gave him the shot of acid on his deathbed.

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@VideCorSpoon,

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@VideCorSpoon,

I dunno who it was, but a wise man once said: "Don't worry, it's not loaded. See?"

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@Leonard,

I think I remember something involving Henry David Thoureau went like "Do you want to make your peace with God?", to which he replied "I had not known we quarreled."

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@Octal,

Octal;94083 wrote:

I think I remember something involving Henry David Thoureau went like "Do you want to make your peace with God?", to which he replied "I had not known we quarreled."

Thoreau did say this towards his end, but his "last words" are even better.

He was reported to have said, "Now comes good sailing...Moose!....Indian!", before passing away. Ha! Perhaps not his best work, but memorable all the same.

1 Reply

@Pangloss,

(There are innumerable quotes about the last words of the famous people in the internet, some of which seem incorrect and several of them supposedly belong to the same person contradict with each other. Nonetheless, I think this topic is very interesting to understand their attitude in the face of death as the "hiperreality". In short, I propose to further develop this topic by paying attention to the details.)

Convicted of treason in 1793, Queen of France Marie Antoinette's final words before being executed by guillotine were spoken to the executioner after she stepped on his foot: "Monsieur, I beg your pardon." (An incredible attitude difficult to interpret: not losing her courtesy even in the face of death and forgiving her executioner or just confusion?)

Similarly, a militant (Yakup Cemil) of the "Union and Progress Party" in the Ottoman Empire in 1916 before executed by shooting uttered the following words: "Could you please adjust my trouser cuff, it is awry."

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@VideCorSpoon,

A Boer War general, looking over the ramparts of a fortress, with binoculars, at the assembled enemy, some way away:

Quote:

'They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist....'

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