Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

'Money can't buy life': The last words of 18 famous people

“I should never have switched from scotch to martinis.”

PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS been fascinated by the last words of others.

Perhaps they hold a touch of wisdom, a final joke, or even confirmation of who’s getting what in the will.

In light of that, Business Insider put together a list of the reported last words of 18 famous historical figures.

Check them out below.

Karl_Marx_001 Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons

Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.

Karl Marx, philosopher.

Richard P. Feynman Associated Press Associated Press

I’d hate to die twice. It’s so boring.

Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist.

archimedes-mathematician Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons

Stand away, fellow, from my diagram!

Archimedes, mathematician. He was killed during the Second Punic War. According to the historian Plutarch, a soldier reportedly came up to the mathematician and told him to go with him to Marcellus. Archimedes, however, refused to do so until he finished the problem he was working on. Enraged, the soldier killed him.

Napoleon_Bonaparte_AGE_V07_1801 Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons

France, the army, the head of the army, Joséphine.

Napoléon Bonaparte, French military and political leader.

Humphrey Bogart Associated Press Associated Press

I should never have switched from scotch to martinis.

Humphrey Bogart, actor.

Caesar's Comet on coin of Augustus ancientartpodcast.org ancientartpodcast.org

(To his subjects) I found Rome of clay; I leave it to you of marble.
(To his friends) Have I played the part well? Then applaud me as I exit.

Augustus Caesar, first Roman emperor.

Britain Darwin Associated Press Associated Press

I am not the least afraid to die.

Charles Darwin, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory.

Joe DiMaggio Close Up Smiling Associated Press Associated Press

I finally get to see Marilyn.

Joe DiMaggio, baseball player.

bob marley Anwar Hussein / allactiondigital.c Anwar Hussein / allactiondigital.c / allactiondigital.c

Money can’t buy life.

Bob Marley, musician.

File:Leonardo da Vinci LUCAN Hohenstatt 20 Uffizi copy.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Wikimedia

I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.

Leonardo da Vinci, inventor and painter.

1024px-Marie-Antoinette,_1775_-_Musée_Antoine_Lécuyer Wikimedia Comons Wikimedia Comons

Pardon me. I didn’t do it on purpose.

Marie Antoinette, queen of France, after accidentally stepping on her executioner’s foot as she climbed the scaffold to the guillotine.

File:Nostradamus portrait ca1690.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Wikimedia

You will not find me alive at sunrise.

Michel de Nostradamus, French apothecary and alleged soothsayer.

US_Navy_031029-N-6236G-001_A_painting_of_President_John_Adams_(1735-1826),_2nd_president_of_the_United_States,_by_Asher_B._Durand_(1767-1845)-crop Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Jefferson survives.

John Adams, second president of the United States. Adams and Thomas Jefferson started out as rivals, but they became friends later in life. As Adams lay on his deathbed, on July 4, he said these last words. Jefferson had actually died some hours earlier, also on July 4.

Conan Doyle letters on display PA WIRE PA WIRE

You are wonderful.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer and physician best known for creating Sherlock Holmes, to his wife.

Beethoven Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons

I will hear in heaven.
Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est. (Applaud, friends, the comedy is finished)
Pity, pity, too late!

These are several differing accounts for the last words of Ludwig van Beethoven, composer and pianist. The latter is after a publisher brought him 12 bottles of wine.

James Brown MOJO Honours List Award EMPICS Sports Photo Agency EMPICS Sports Photo Agency

I’m going away tonight.

James Brown, singer.

Thomas A. Edison Associated Press Associated Press

It is very beautiful out there.

Thomas Edison, inventor and businessman, who reportedly right before his death came out of a coma and looked out the window.

Leonard Nimoy, actor. Not quite his last words, but his last tweet. LLAP is short for “Live long and prosper”, a saying made famous by Nimoy’s Star Trek character Mr. Spock.

- Elena Holodny

‘Kiss my ass’: More memorable last words >

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Published with permission from
View 47 comments
Close
47 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerry Ryan
    Favourite Gerry Ryan
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:25 PM

    Osama Bin Laden ‘honey will you get the door.’

    319
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Larry L'Oiseau
    Favourite Larry L'Oiseau
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:12 PM

    Voltaire was on his deathbed and as the priest went through his prayers for the dying he came to the one :

    “Do you renounce Satan?”

    To which Voltaire replied;

    “Now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies”

    250
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bob Kavanagh
    Favourite Bob Kavanagh
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:22 PM

    My favourite last words are from a confederate general during the American civil war who said ‘They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist………’

    232
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall O' Sullivan
    Favourite Niall O' Sullivan
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:06 PM

    “That’s not a real fcuking gun” – John Lennon.

    “What the fcuk was that” – Mayor of Hiroshima.

    142
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mike Clinton
    Favourite Mike Clinton
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:27 PM

    Where’s all this f€ukin water coming from.. Captain of the Titanic. What f€ukin indians…. Custer.

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Deborah Behan
    Favourite Deborah Behan
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:42 PM

    If they were Irish Niall!!

    13
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute alpha_chaarlie
    Favourite alpha_chaarlie
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 5:52 AM

    “mind the pillars” – Diana, Princess of Wales

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Declan Flattery
    Favourite Declan Flattery
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:53 PM

    Don’t worry lads, sure they love me here in Cork….

    Michael Collins

    138
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Gregg
    Favourite Paul Gregg
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:26 PM

    we can’t travel in that shit heap-buddy holly, according to joey the lips fagan

    116
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute .
    Favourite .
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:28 PM

    Oscar Wilde on deathbed looking at medical bill I am dying as I have lived beyond my means

    98
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Montana Gael
    Favourite Montana Gael
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 12:13 AM

    Another Oscar: “Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.”

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Curtis
    Favourite Richard Curtis
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:14 PM

    Shouldn’t have taken those pills before dropping a deuce – Elvis

    76
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dot Com
    Favourite Dot Com
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:16 PM

    Stop writing and call me a doctor.

    76
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cormac Flynn
    Favourite Cormac Flynn
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:08 PM

    Who said when asked for his final words, “tell them I said something good”?

    70
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JIMINYJELIKERS
    Favourite JIMINYJELIKERS
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 9:33 PM

    I told you I was sick

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute William Grogan
    Favourite William Grogan
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 7:17 PM

    That’s supposed to be on Spike Milligans grave stone.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute WJH
    Favourite WJH
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:40 PM

    €5 million is buried………………..

    68
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony Ryan
    Favourite Anthony Ryan
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 12:50 AM

    Erskine Childers, as he faced the Free State Army firing squad; “Take a step or two forwards, lads. It’ll be easier that way.”

    Bad A$$!

    59
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris O Neill Cabra
    Favourite Chris O Neill Cabra
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:28 PM

    Jobs, who once memorably described death as “very likely the single best invention of life”, departed this world with a lingering look at his family and the simple, if mysterious, observation: “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”

    http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/31/steve-jobs-last-words

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute William Grogan
    Favourite William Grogan
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 7:19 PM

    Jobs would probably be still alive if he wasn’t a silly new age hippy.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute james
    Favourite james
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:40 PM

    Phil Lynott supposedly asked a nurse for a w@nk how rock and roll is that.

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hólec Alfield
    Favourite Hólec Alfield
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 3:19 PM

    Didn’t he choke on his own vomit?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute anthony campion
    Favourite anthony campion
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 11:53 PM

    Lovely words from Joe Di Maggio Marilyn was his true love

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute O Swetenham
    Favourite O Swetenham
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:14 PM

    “Channel 5 is all shit, isn’t it? Christ, the crap they put on there. It’s a waste of space.”- Adam Faith

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SCO Electrical
    Favourite SCO Electrical
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:07 PM

    Ahhhh I don’t have the energy after a day stuck inside to be thinking of my last words now.

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peadar McCartney
    Favourite Peadar McCartney
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:44 PM

    They really should change the wallpaper

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Raymond Callaghan
    Favourite Raymond Callaghan
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:27 PM

    o shit its a bus

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Enda Elvery
    Favourite Enda Elvery
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 10:35 PM

    Margaret thatchers last words

    Well Gerry, missed again

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Mc
    Favourite Paul Mc
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 11:24 PM

    Sorry Enda I think it was (Is that you Satan? )

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Al Gorithm
    Favourite Al Gorithm
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:17 PM

    Voltaire: Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies. – on his deathbed when asked by a priest to renounce Satan.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tricia Golden
    Favourite Tricia Golden
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 10:54 PM

    Douglas Fairbanks Jr – “I’ve never felt better” (also said by Commander John Crichton)

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John
    Favourite John
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:12 PM

    I see Karl Marx giving the secret Masonic hand sign ‘Master of Second Veil’ to the bosum..

    http://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/the-hidden-hand-that-changed-history/

    Can you say Hegelian dialectic?

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JohnAbbs
    Favourite JohnAbbs
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:20 PM

    I doubt if Carl Marks read ANY of the books of the old testament..

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JohnAbbs
    Favourite JohnAbbs
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:21 PM

    Richard Feynman obviously knew the atomic number of cobalt.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Beachmaster
    Favourite Beachmaster
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:29 PM

    “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded” Terry Kath

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall O' Sullivan
    Favourite Niall O' Sullivan
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:38 PM

    Anne Boleyn: “Henry! I am NOT giving you head!”

    73
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Mc
    Favourite Paul Mc
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 7:42 PM

    Spike milligan ( I told you I was ill) on his headstone.

    68
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Beachmaster
    Favourite Beachmaster
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:00 PM

    @ the druid Guitarist.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Larry L'Oiseau
    Favourite Larry L'Oiseau
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:06 PM

    Correct, and written in Irish as the gentleman who was doing the engraving refused to do it as he felt it was disrespectful (despite the fact that Spike requested it) so they compromised and wrote it in Irish because of his Irish background

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Smith
    Favourite John Smith
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:15 PM

    @Paul Mc – his headstone said “Duirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite” because he the people in the church Didn’t want I told you I was ill on a headstone.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Elma Phudd
    Favourite Elma Phudd
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:29 PM

    Except as gaeilge. They wouldn’t allow it in English!

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Elma Phudd
    Favourite Elma Phudd
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 8:30 PM

    Ah jaysus, the last two replies just appeared. It seems I’m as late as Spike.

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kieran Stafford
    Favourite Kieran Stafford
    Report
    Oct 26th 2015, 11:05 PM

    Micheal Jackson “more milk”

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ak Scouser
    Favourite Ak Scouser
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 1:28 AM

    Walter White…. “I should have killed jesse and f@@@ed off with the money “

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute danny corrigan
    Favourite danny corrigan
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 11:18 AM

    Zip up yer Micky–Twink

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute B Collins
    Favourite B Collins
    Report
    Oct 27th 2015, 12:15 PM

    Joan Crawford, to her housekeeper who had begun to pray for her: “Damn it, don’t you dare ask God to help me.”

    8
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds