Here are 21 famous authors’ purported last words. They are presented in chronological order.
Voltaire (1694–1778) – On his deathbed when asked by the priest to renounce Satan, Voltaire allegedly said, ‘Now, now, my good man, this is no time for making enemies.’
Jane Austen (1775–1817) – When her sister, Cassandra, asked the dying author if she wanted anything, Jane Austen replied, ‘Nothing, but death.’
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) – ‘Now I shall go to sleep. Goodnight.’
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) – The Victorian poet was close to death when her husband enquired as to how she felt. Browning replied, ‘Beautiful.’ She then passed away.
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) –‘Moose. Indian.’ Perhaps not the most rational last words ever uttered, but apt, considering the subject matter of Thoreau’s writing.
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) – ‘So, this is death. Well!’
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) – ‘This is the fight of day and night. I see black light.’
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) – ‘Let us go in; the fog is rising.’
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) – Immediately after Chekhov told his wife that he was about to die, he purportedly picked up a glass of champagne and said, ‘It’s a long time since I drank champagne.’ After drinking the glass, he died.
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) – The Norwegian playwright and poet allegedly uttered his last words to a nurse, who commented that he seemed to be improving. Ibsen said, ‘Tvertimod!’ (‘On the contrary!’) He then died.
O. Henry (1862–1910) – ‘Turn up the lights, I don’t want to go home in the dark.’
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) – ‘But the peasants…how do the peasants die?’
Saki (1870 –1916) – Immediately prior to being killed by a sniper’s bullet in a First World War trench, the author allegedly said, ‘Put that bloody cigarette out.’
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) – Suffering from tuberculosis, Kafka demanded his doctor give him an overdose of morphine. He shouted, ‘Kill me, or else you are a murderer!’ These were his last words.
J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) – Prior to dying of pneumonia the Peter Pan author said, ‘I can’t sleep.’
James Joyce (1882 –1941) – ‘Does nobody understand?’
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) – ‘Dying is easy, comedy is hard.’
Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) – ‘I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room, and God damn it, died in a hotel room.’
Walter De La Mare (1873–1956) – ‘Too late for fruit, too soon for flowers.’
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) –‘A certain butterfly is already on the wing.’ Fitting last words for a lepidopterist.
Truman Capote (1924–1984) – ‘It’s me, it’s Buddy… I’m cold.’