For some strange reason, I found myself looking up the “famous last words” uttered by well-known people. Here are a few of my favorites:
Am I dying or is this my birthday?
When she woke briefly during her last illness and found all her family around her bedside.
– Lady Nancy Astor, d. 1964
I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.
– Humphrey Bogart, d. 1957
Go on, get out – last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.
To his housekeeper, who urged him to tell her his last words so she could write them down for posterity.
– Karl Marx, d. 1883
The 18th Century British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, is reputed to have said, “My country… Oh, my country!” but an alternative version — which delights me — holds that what he actually said was, “I think I could eat one of Bellamy’s veal pies.”
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Maura 09.28.09 at 6:08 am
My personal favorite is what St. Lawrence is supposed to have said while being grilled to death. “Turn me over I’m done on this side”
For those not familiar he was a deacon in the Roman church during the time of one of the great persecutions. After the pope of the time had been martyred he was told by the emperor to produce the wealth of the church. He distributed what little the church had to feed the poor and then brought them before the emperor who was not amused… I’ve always wondered what happened to those poor folks.
James 09.29.09 at 2:01 am
Hi Paul,
I tried the ’spiritual exercises of st ignatius’ link in your Prayer and Spirituality Links – the spiritual orientations URL, and found the link has expired. It’s now at
Peace,
James
James 09.29.09 at 2:02 am
that’s http://www.jesuits.ca/orientations/
Michelle 09.29.09 at 8:42 am
Maura,
I love that story!
Michelle