Last Words of Literary Authors

I recently came across a post which outliend the final words of some of histories most famous monarchs. It got me thinking about the last words of literary authors. So, just for fun, here are some of the final words of some of the world’s greatest authors.

1. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) – “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.”
2. Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) – “I must go in.”
3. Mark Twain (1835–1910) – “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.”
4. Jane Austen (1775–1817) – “I want nothing but death.”
5. Voltaire (1694–1778) – “I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.”
6. Franz Kafka (1883–1924) – “Don’t forget me.”
7. Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) – “Excuse my dust.”
8. John Keats (1795–1821) – “I feel my heart fluttering. I am dying. Sweet Mary, come to me.”
9. Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) – “I am not afraid of death—I am just a little afraid of dying.”
10. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) – “My dear, I have but a minute left. Kiss me, then let me go.”
11. George Orwell (1903–1950) – “At least I’ll never write for newspapers again.”
12. Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) – “Lord, help my poor soul.”
13. Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) – “It is not God I am questioning, but myself.”
14. H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) – “I am disintegrating. I am writing my last lines.”
15. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) – “Goodbye, all. It is so sweet to die.”
16. Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) – “My heart is beating still, but I have no more to give.”
17. Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) – “I feel certain I am going mad again. I feel I cannot go on.”
18. Marcel Proust (1871–1922) – “My God, what a terrible exhaustion.”
19. Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) – “It is beautiful where I am going.”
20. Lord Byron (1788–1824) – “Now I shall go to sleep.”
21. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) – “Life has no meaning. The end is near.”
22. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) – “I am going to the light.”
23. Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) – “In Your mercy, Lord, let me rest.”
24. William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) – “I am in perfect peace, let me go.”
25. William Faulkner (1897–1962) – “I guess I’ve had enough of this world.”
26. Emily Brontë (1818–1848) – “If only I could die quietly.”
27. Jack London (1876–1916) – “I would rather die than be dishonored.”
28. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) – “I don’t want to talk about it.”
29. Truman Capote (1924–1984) – “I am tired, I want to rest.”
30. Herman Melville (1819–1891) – “I am very ill, but calm.”
31. Charles Dickens (1812–1870) – “Be natural, be natural.”
32. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) – “My poor wife. What will become of her?”
33. Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) – “I am dying of a double pneumonia. Everything is as it should be.”
34. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) – “I am dying. Do not fear death.”
35. Alexander Pope (1688–1744) – “I am so happy I could die.”
36. Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) – “I hope I can be forgiven.”
37. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) (1819–1880) – “I shall soon be gone, but I have been happy.”
38. Robert Frost (1874–1963) – “I have had a wonderful life.”
39. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) – “Nothing… nothing… nothing.”
40. John Milton (1608–1674) – “No more.”
41. Edmund Spenser (1552–1599) – “My soul flies to heaven.”
42. Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) – “The worst is not yet to come.”
43. Homer (circa 8th century BCE) – Last words unknown; tradition says “Sing me to rest.”
44. Sophocles (496–406 BCE) – “I am not afraid of death.”
45. Virgil (70–19 BCE) – “I have lived long enough.”
46. Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) – “I am content.”
47. Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) – “I feel a great peace.”
48. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) – “I am at the point of no return.”
49. Euripides (480–406 BCE) – “I have lived well.”
50. Albert Camus (1913–1960) – “I have lived with clarity.”
51. Italo Calvino (1923–1985) – “Tell them I tried to fly.”
52. Jules Verne (1828–1905) – “The world is beautiful.”
53. Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) – “I have lived my life, and now it is enough.”
54. Virginia Andrews (1923–1986) – “Be strong.”
55. Graham Greene (1904–1991) – “It is finished.”
56. William Wordsworth (1770–1850) – “Farewell to all.”
57. Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) – “I shall go to sleep now.”
58. Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) – “I must say goodbye.”
59. Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) – “I don’t want to die.”
60. Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) – “I am not afraid.”
61. Henry James (1843–1916) – “It is over.”
62. John Steinbeck (1902–1968) – “I am ready.”
63. T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) – “I have done my work.”
64. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) – “I have lived fully.”
65. Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) – “So it goes.”
66. James Joyce (1882–1941) – “History, history, history…”
67. Simone Weil (1909–1943) – “All is in God.”
68. Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) – “I hope the exit is joyful.”
69. Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) – “Let the curtain fall.”
70. Bram Stoker (1847–1912) – “The end is near.”
71. H. G. Wells (1866–1946) – “What a wonderful life it has been.”
72. Virginia Hamilton (1936–2002) – “Keep telling the stories.”
73. Emily Carr (1871–1945) – “Paint me, paint me!”
74. Toni Morrison (1931–2019) – “I have told the stories I could.”
75. Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) – “Be of good cheer.”
76. Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) – “I’ve had a hell of a ride.”
77. Philip Roth (1933–2018) – “I’ve lived a full life.”
78. Günter Grass (1927–2015) – “I am at peace.”
79. Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) – “It is done.”
80. John Updike (1932–2009) – “I have lived well.”
81. Richard Wright (1908–1960) – “It is over now.”
82. Cormac McCarthy (1933–2023) – “I am finished.”
83. Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955) – Still living; no last words.
84. Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) – “I’ve done my work.”
85. Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) – “The end is nigh.”
86. Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) – “Keep imagining.”
87. J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) – “I am going into the West.”
88. C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) – “Into the darkness, I go.”
89. Homer (circa 8th century BCE) – “Sing me to rest.”
90. Sophocles (496–406 BCE) – “I am not afraid of death.”
91. Virgil (70–19 BCE) – “I have lived long enough.”
92. Marcel Proust (1871–1922) – “My God, what a terrible exhaustion.”
93. Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) – “I feel a great peace.”
94. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) – “I am at the point of no return.”