I've often thought at times that if I could say just one more thing what would it be. Then I began to wonder if there might be an uncommon number of profound comments to be found from folks who were about to die. People always want to know what the man or woman said before the trap door was sprung or the chair was turned on. Sometimes people after weeks of struggling finally succumb to death but not before saying one last thing.
I want to collect these sorts of quotes, organize them into a book and call it, "Famous Last Words."
Appropriate title neh?
Problem is I have no idea where I would go to collect these sorts of quotes. I imagine jails keep records of these quotes from death row inmates. I am sure biographers could tell me the last words of famous men and women who died. But where else could I look?
I was also wondering if any hatrackers had any personally favorite Famous Last Words they thought were interesting, odd, or even stupid.
I'd love reading such a book, and I am pretty sure there are others.
Thoughts?
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
There are lots of books on this subject.
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
Yeah, it was a good idea though - such a good idea that a lot of other people did it first. Happens to me a lot.
You could probably do a new angle on the whole concept.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Way to crush my idea.
I confess it had not yet occurred to me to see if somebody had already jumped on the idea.
edit: There are not THAT many books, and a better one could be put together.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
[ February 14, 2007, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: James Tiberius Kirk ]
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
quote:I confess it had not yet occurred to me to see if somebody had already jumped on the idea.
edit: There are not THAT many books, and a better one could be put together.
Well, sure. I can think of one approach.
Truth is that a lot of people's last words are pretty dull.
You could write a book of what famous people should have said on their deathbeds - you could show how your revisions are an improvement on the individuals'historical legacies.
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Fictional Characters last words?
Spoilers and spoiling goodness.
Emperor Palpatine: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Obi-Wan... in the flesh: If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine.
Gollum: PRECIOUUUUUUUSSSSS!!!
Vicini (Princess Bride): You fell to the second most classic blunder! The first being never get involved in a landwar in Asia, but only slightly less well known, never go against a Sicillian when DEATH is on the line! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Barbosa: I feel... cold.
Jack Sparrow: Alright then...
Bruce Willis (Sixth Sense): Ugggghh.....
Stilson: Uggggghh....
Bonzo: Ugggghh....
Boromir: I would have followed you my brother, my captain, my king!
Theoden: I go to my fathers . . . in whose mighty company, I shall not now feel ashamed
Kirk: It was fun... oh my.
Neo: You were right.. it was inevitable.
William Wallace Braveheart: FREEDOM!
Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
To be is to do - Ghandi
To do is to be - Aristotle
Do be do be do - Sinatra
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Do be do be do was Sinatra's last words before he died?
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
"Hey, y'all, watch this!"
Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
quote:Originally posted by T_Smith: Do be do be do was Sinatra's last words before he died?
Nope... I've just been looking for some place to put that joke for a while now.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
"I drank WHAT?" - Socrates
Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..."
-- General "Uncle John" Sedgewick, reassuring his men that the Confederate sharpshooters were no danger to him at the Battle of Spotsylvania, 1864.
I guess that statistically, "NYAAAARRRGGGGHHHH" would be a popular choice. Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
"I regret nothing!"
Posted by jasonepowell (Member # 1600) on :
General George Patton: "Hey look, a Jeep! WHEEEE!!"
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
What's this nonsense about grenades exploding if you hold them too long?
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
How about other famous quotes similarly illustrated as if they were the author's last words?
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
I once found myself driving off of a 300 foot cliff. As it happens, I didn't actually die (though my car did). What I remember saying as I watched the edge of the road pass beneath the front of my car was, "I cannot believe I did this." There may have been an expletive in there, but I don't remember for certain.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
"Bad form." - Captain Hook
"And now what?" - Gregor Samsa (The Metamorphosis)
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
My virgin ears! (eyes?)
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Lisa... How did you live?
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
I am a leaf on the wind...
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
When it ain't yer time to go, the Universe intervenes in absolutely absurd ways. I skidded a motorcycle off of an extremely steep similar-height oceanside cliff, then drove the motorcycle into the next town for a new tail lamp.
[ February 16, 2007, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
I have more if you need them.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: Lisa... How did you live?
<shrug> I'm not 100% sure. Part of what I remember seems... well, like the kind of thing King of Men would laugh his skeptical a** off at, if you know what I mean.
There were a few things about it that I don't think I'll ever understand. How my car made it as far down as it did, when there was no straight path through the redwoods on the cliff (it was about 30 degrees from straight down for most of the way), why the back of the car was so much more bashed in than the front. Why the car was flat on its wheels when I came to, and the driver's seat was 180 degrees flat back (okay, those aren't that incomprehensible). Why I distinctly remember two grown men coming down the hill just before I blacked out again, but they were gone when I came to about 50 feet away from the car, and they were never actually there in the first place, because I (coincidentally) ran into the teenaged kid and his father about three weeks later who actually did see me go over the edge and climbed down after me, and they looked nothing at all like the guys I saw.
I went back a month or so later, intending to climb down myself and look for my glasses (which I never did find). The trees didn't start until about 100 feet down, and there was absolutely no straight line through them. I didn't climb down, because there was actually nothing to grab onto. I don't have a clue how anyone got down there.
Oh, and there was a metal railing along the edge of the road, and a concrete barrier as well. And exactly enough space between the two for a car to fit through, if it was going exactly straight off the edge. Which I was. When the back of my car skidded out, it sent me flying away from the edge, straight into the mountainside on my right. This was a narrow road (the pathetically misnamed "Highway" 9, about 5 minutes north of Santa Cruz, for those who are familiar with the area), and I have no idea how I managed to keep the car from hitting that wall. All I know is that once I did wrestle it around, I was moving directly away from it, and it was too late for me to do anything else. I was honestly stunned as I watched the edge of the road disappear under the front of the car.
When the paramedics got there, I really had no idea how far I'd fallen. A slope of about 30 degrees from vertical means that the car didn't fall through the air, but that's still a long way to go. One of the paramedics told me that if I'd gone another 100 feet, I would have crashed through someone's roof. Apparently, there was a small settlement of houses down at the bottom of the ravine. I think, as a homeowner, that having a car fall through my roof would irk me.
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