# Most Memorable Last Lines in Science Fiction Literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738 "2019-07-08T23:27:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/41 "2019-07-10T00:58:42Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I > (The Twilight Zone was great for this sort of thing, wasn’t it?) To Serve Man. Short story by Damon Knight. It’s A Good Life. Short Story by Jerome Bixby All The Time in The World. Arthur C. Clarke?? I wouldn’t have put “All the Time in The World” in there. But “Time Enough at Last” doesn’t actually have a memorable last line. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/42 "2019-07-10T01:39:35Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > To Serve Man. Short story by Damon Knight. > It’s A Good Life. Short Story by Jerome Bixby > All The Time in The World. Arthur C. Clarke?? > > I wouldn’t have put “All the Time in The World” in there. But “Time Enough at Last” doesn’t actually have a memorable last line. You’re right, it was Time Enough At Last. Thinking of the lines Meredith says before, ‘it’s not fair!’ Nah, you’re right, the story doesn’t belong. Put that vote instead towards mbh’s contribution of Clarke’s novelization of 2001. More sci-fi: the last line of Iain Banks’s _Surface Detail_ is amazing. Not for its literary quality, but for how it changes your view of several characters in the Culture series. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/43 "2019-07-10T02:44:20Z")
Clarke did have a knack for giving the reader a gut-punch at the end of a story. See also “The Star”, though that one, one might at least have seen coming. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/44 "2019-07-10T03:03:41Z")
The two that come to mind for me are Asimov’s _Second Foundation_ and Clarke’s _Rendezvous With Rama_. Matheson’s _Born of Man and Woman_ has a good stinger too. And _With Folded Hands_, the author of which escapes me. ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/45 "2019-07-10T03:15:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Clarke did have a knack for giving the reader a gut-punch at the end of a story. See also “The Star”, though that one, one might at least have seen coming. Check out my original post. GMTA. 😃 And no big thing if some posters are quoting the last lines, as long as the surprise endings aren’t completely spoiled. I’m looking forward to reading all the suggested stories, my summer reading list just got a lot more interesting, and a lot longer! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/46 "2019-07-10T10:36:15Z")
_The Weapon Shops of Isher_ by A.E. van Vogt. “He Walked Around the Horses” by H. Beam Piper ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/47 "2019-07-10T13:43:44Z")
I second (of fifth or whatever) _The Last Question_ ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/48 "2019-07-10T16:45:22Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And _With Folded Hands_, the author of which escapes me. Jack Williamson. I read it in the _[Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol IIA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_Fiction_Hall_of_Fame,_Volume_Two)_, which also includes the classics “Who Goes There” and “The Marching Morons”. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/49 "2019-07-11T10:20:44Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Jack Williamson. I read it in the _[Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol IIA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_Fiction_Hall_of_Fame,_Volume_Two)_, which also includes the classics “Who Goes There” and “The Marching Morons”. I had all three volumes when I was a teenager and I read them at least a couple times each. I can’t recall whether _The Cold Equations_ was in one of them, but that’s got a hell of a final line as well. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/50 "2019-07-11T12:21:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I had all three volumes when I was a teenager and I read them at least a couple times each. I can’t recall whether _The Cold Equations_ was in one of them, but that’s got a hell of a final line as well. The Cold Equations is in [Volume I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_Fiction_Hall_of_Fame,_Volume_One,_1929%E2%80%931964). The Wikipedia entries I linked have a list of the contents. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/51 "2019-07-11T13:39:14Z")
A lot of Asimov votes here, but it looks like I’m the first to nominate “The Dead Past”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/52 "2019-07-11T15:08:15Z")
There are a lot of Fredric Brown stories that fit – Brown was a master of the short-short, and had lots of stories with twists or puns at the end, in addition to a lot of more serious stuff. His story “Knock” has the same line at the beginning and at the end, but the meaning are completely different. Others: “Great Lost Discoveries I: Invisibility” “The Ring of Hans Carvel” “Abominable” …and several others I can’t recall the titles of. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/53 "2019-07-11T15:13:50Z")
I concede Stephen King horror stories aren’t hardcore SF, but the last line of, “Pet Semetary,” and the last line of, “Survivor Type,” (short story) both gave me the willies. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/54 "2019-07-11T15:14:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There are a lot of Fredric Brown stories that fit – Brown was a master of the short-short, and had lots of stories with twists or puns at the end, in addition to a lot of more serious stuff. “Nightmare in Yellow”? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/55 "2019-07-11T15:46:19Z")
The short story “Summer’s Lease” by Joe Haldeman - the last sentence totally changes your understanding about what just happened _Tool of the Trade_ by Joe Haldeman - a perfect concluding sentence, and a great setup for the sequel that he unfortunately never wrote _Tuf Voyaging_ by George R.R. Martin - echoes a sentence earlier in the book, and is chillingly ambiguous, under the circumstances ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738/56 "2019-07-17T10:04:51Z")
The two I immediatly thought of have been mentioned above (A boy and his dog, The Nine Billion Names of God), but by chance I just watched “Predestination” (2014), which is based on “—All You Zombies—” by Robert A. Heinlein. I could be wrong about the last line – a movie has to be less dialog driven – but I remember a last line, and that would be the third one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-memorable-last-lines-in-science-fiction-literature/836738.md?page=2)