# Best last words.... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312 "2006-05-18T20:25:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/1 "2006-05-18T20:25:05Z")
I’ve heard that Oscar Wilde said something about changing the wallpaper just before he died. I’m wondering what some of the best “last words” are… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/2 "2006-05-18T20:29:42Z")
Urban legend, sorta. I read a biography that said Oscar Wlde had written in a letter a few days before he died, “I am fighting a battle to the death with the wallpaper. One of us has got to go,” but they weren’t actually his last words. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/3 "2006-05-18T20:32:33Z")
“They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist. . . .” _Killed in battle during US Civil War._ ~~ General John Sedgwick, Union Commander, d. 1864 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/4 "2006-05-18T21:20:22Z")
Famous Last Words is a perennial thread in any RPG forum guaranteed to bring forth some wonderfully amusing stories. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/5 "2006-05-18T21:22:26Z")
“Uh-oh.” Michael Smith, Co-Pilot, Space Shuttle _Challenger_ ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/6 "2006-05-18T22:26:31Z")
**silenus** took my first choice, so I’ll go with Dominique Bouhours, grammarian to the last. “I am about to, or I am going to, die; either expression is used.” I don’t know if he actually said the semicolon. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/7 "2006-05-18T23:40:14Z")
“No! It cannot be! I AM IN_VIIIIIIINCIBLE!_” ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/8 "2006-05-18T23:49:07Z")
I always thought my uncle’s last words were pretty cool, even though he wasn’t anyone famous. “I hear taps…” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/9 "2006-05-19T00:05:46Z")
“This is funny.” –Doc Holiday ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/10 "2006-05-19T00:08:37Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Urban legend, sorta. I read a biography that said Oscar Wlde had written in a letter a few days before he died, “I am fighting a battle to the death with the wallpaper. One of us has got to go,” but they weren’t actually his last words. I’d always heard it as “Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.” I’ve also wondered whether even Wilde could go out with such timing, but it pleases me to spread the story, because se non e vero, e ben trovato. I think he’d approve. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/11 "2006-05-19T00:56:42Z")
My God. What’s happened? Diana, Princess of Wales ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/12 "2006-05-19T01:49:07Z")
I think the best last words are this combo: _Is it the Fourth?_- Thomas Jefferson, former US President, July 4, 1826 Jefferson then died, later that day, on a different location: _Thomas Jefferson–still survives…_ - John Adams, former US President, dies on the same day. It remains one of the most amazing coincidences in the history of the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/13 "2006-05-19T02:20:15Z")
Couple of good ones from Confederate generals… Stonewall Jackson: “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.” Robert E. Lee: “Strike the tent.” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/14 "2006-05-19T02:21:39Z")
“I think I’m becoming a god.” –Emperor Vespasian ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/15 "2006-05-19T03:28:01Z")
General Braddock, after getting waxed by the Frenchies in the French and Indian War: “Who would have thought it?” Marco Polo, given one last chance to recant his “fables” on his deathbed: “I haven’t told the half of what I’ve seen.” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/16 "2006-05-19T03:30:41Z")
“What an artist dies with me!” - Nero ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/17 "2006-05-19T04:05:39Z")
Val Kilmer channeling Socrates - “I drank what?” ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/18 "2006-05-19T04:33:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Go away. I’m all right. **H.G. Wells** , last words ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/19 "2006-05-19T04:40:03Z")
> [@](#): > > This is no time to make new enemies. **Voltaire** (1694 - 1778), _when asked on his deathbed to forswear Satan_. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312/20 "2006-05-19T04:49:14Z")
Now I’m goint to have to look for my copy of Passages by Connie Willis. Each chapter started with someone’s last words or last recorded words. Back soon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-last-words/357312.md?page=2)