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Last Words-Famous and Otherwise

Final Acts of Communication.

Some last words are downright embarrassing. "Don't duck; they couldn't hit an elephant at that distance," Union Civil War Major General John Sedgwick chided his nervous troops who cringed at each rifle shot from far away Confederate sharpshooters. Those words became his last when the next bullet the sharpshooters fired struck him in the head. Some last words have been lost. The bed-ridden Albert Einstein's dying words, spoken in German, were not understood by his English-speaking nurse. When he was found reading The Bible on his deathbed the notoriously irreligious comedian W. C. Fields explained, "I'm looking for loopholes." English Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli declined a deathbed visit from Queen Victoria saying, "No, it is better not, she would only ask me to take a message to Albert (the queen's dead husband)." The French author and philosopher Voltaire wasn't taking any chances on his deathbed. When he was asked to renounce the Devil, Voltaire cautiously replied, "This is no time for making new enemies."

1. "Go away. I'm all right."
2. "You also, Brutus my son."
3. "Am I dying, or is it my birthday?'
4. "I only regret I have but one life to give for my country."
5. "I am going to seek a grand perhaps; draw the curtain, the farce is played."
6. "Thomas-Jefferson-still surv---"
7. "What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in sunset."
8. "Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?"
9. "What is the answer? In that case, what is the question?"
10. "This is the fourth?"
11. "I don't know what to do."
12. "It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go."
13. "Drink to me."
14. "Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. My advice to you is to have nothing to do with it."
15. "Strike the tent."
16. "God will pardon me. It's his business."
17. "I am a broken machine. I am ready to go."
18. "Die, my dear Doctor, that's the last thing I shall do."
19. "What an artist dies with me."
20. "Woe is me, I think I am becoming a god."

Hints

Written below are the names of the speakers.

• JOHN ADAMS (1735-1826) American Revolutionary War leader. Adams said these ironic dying words on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence unaware that the Declaration's author was also dying.
• NANCY ASTOR (1879-1964) First female member of Parliament. Ms. Astor made this dying quip looking up at her grown children who had all gathered around her bed.
• HEINRICH HEINE (1797-1856) The German author was confident God knew his job.
• JULIUS CAESAR (100-44B. C.), Roman general, statesman and author. According to Plutarch, Caesar spoke these words in Greek, not Latin, as he was being assassinated. Shakespeare wrote them in Latin in the play Julius Caesar.
• CROWFOOT (1821-1890), Blackfoot warrior and orator. He spoke about life with his dying words.
• NATHAN HALE (1755-1776), Revolutionary War officer. His dying words were said as the British prepared to hang him for spying.
• THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826), American Revolutionary War leader. As he died Jefferson's thoughts drifted back to a glorious day fifty years before.
• ROBERT E. LEE (1807-1870), Confederate General. Lee's words were the military order signifying it was time to move to a new camp.
• SOMERSET MAUGHAM (1874-1965), British author and dramatist. Maugham dying words offered a hard-to-follow suggestion.
• PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973), Spanish artist and sculptor. His dying words seem to say he didn't want anyone to mourn.
• FRANÇOIS RABELAIS (c. 1494-c. 1553), French humorist, satirist and philosopher. His dying words looked ahead.
• SOCRATES (469-399 B. C.), Greek philosopher. He calmly made a request as he was dying from the hemlock he had drunk after being sentenced to death by an Athenian court.
• LORD PALMERSTON (1784-1865) The British Prime Minister correctly placed dying on his list of "things to do."
• GERTRUDE STEIN (1874-1946), American writer. She asked this dying question of her longtime companion Alice B. Toklas. When Toklas did not answer Stein asked another question.
• COUNT LEO TOLSTOY (1828-1910), Russian author and philosopher. He uttered his dying words in a railway station after he had run away from his wife and home.
• WOODROW WILSON (1856-1924) The stroke-disabled American President expressed no hesitation.
• NERO (37-68 AD) The ne'er do well Roman Emperor lamented the loss of his lyre playing to the world.
• GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799), First President of the United States. His dying words were said after a long illness.
• VESPASIAN (9-79 AD) The Roman Emperor foresaw a change in his job description.
• H. G. WELLS (1866-1946), British author. His inaccurate dying words were spoken to his nurse.

Last Words - Famous and Otherwise - answers

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