# Post great last lines of stories you love. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789 "2010-04-29T21:05:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/81 "2010-05-03T00:05:27Z")
“Ishido lingered three days and died very old.” - James Clavell, Shogun ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/82 "2010-05-03T01:57:48Z")
I’m pretty sure it was a Ray Bradbury story, can’t find the name, but there a psycho dad who had wanted a son and got a daughter, and a Halloween game in the dark basement where you feel some grapes …“and this was his eyes”…and feel a piece of liver…“and this was his guts”…etc. And the little daughter was discovered missing and the hunt was on, kids running around calling her name, and in the basement: “and then some idiot turned on the lights”. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/83 "2010-05-03T02:09:34Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’m pretty sure it was a Ray Bradbury story, can’t find the name, but there a psycho dad who had wanted a son and got a daughter, and a Halloween game in the dark basement where you feel some grapes …“and this was his eyes”…and feel a piece of liver…“and this was his guts”…etc. And the little daughter was discovered missing and the hunt was on, kids running around calling her name, and in the basement: > > “and then some idiot turned on the lights”. It’s called “October Game.” ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/84 "2010-05-03T02:27:13Z")
“A boy loves his dog.” **-Vic ‘A Boy and his Dog’ - Harlan Ellison** “When your laboratory explodes, lacing your body with a supercharged elixir, what do you do? You don’t just lie there. You crawl out of the rubble, hideously scarred, and swear vengeance on the world. You keep going. You keep trying to take over the world.” **-Doctor Impossible ‘Soon I Will Be Invincible’ - Austin Grossman** ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/85 "2010-05-03T02:30:15Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > It’s called “October Game.” :smack: I knew that, really! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/86 "2010-05-03T02:33:25Z")
“Are they your men?” asked Georg. “Are they your men?” he repeated impatiently as Ulrich did not answer. “No,” said Ulrich with a laugh, the idiotic chattering laugh of a man unstrung with hideous fear. “Who are they?” asked Georg quickly, straining his eyes to see what the other would gladly not have seen. “_Wolves._” Saki, “The Interlopers” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/87 "2010-05-03T02:35:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > 😕 > > You can’t seriously think there’s a contradiction between my carnal appreciation of Natalie Portman’s and my dislike of most movies. Wow. I’m friends with a number of film snobs… but an anti-film snob? That out-snobs 'em all. Should I break the news to my friends that even though Sabrina “only likes French Cinéma Nouveau”; and though M. Michael “only watches movies that have never had more than twenty people in the audience”…that they’ve been out-snootied? ps (on topic): I am going to dig through book boxes next week and re-read some Saki and Ray Bradbury short stories, and A Wrinkle in Time. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/88 "2010-05-03T05:47:09Z")
But look around you… Death and Light are everywhere, always, and they begin, end, strive, attend, into and upon the Dream of the Nameless that is the world, burning words within Samsara, perhaps to create a thing of beauty. As the wearers of the saffron robe still meditate upon the Way of Light, and the girl who is named Murga visits the temple daily, to place before her dark one in his shrine the only devotion he receives, of flowers. Roger Zelazny, **Lord of Light** ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/89 "2010-05-03T05:47:16Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’m pretty sure it was a Ray Bradbury story, can’t find the name, but there a psycho dad who had wanted a son and got a daughter, and a Halloween game in the dark basement where you feel some grapes …“and this was his eyes”…and feel a piece of liver…“and this was his guts”…etc. And the little daughter was discovered missing and the hunt was on, kids running around calling her name, and in the basement: > > “and then some idiot turned on the lights”. Just shivered all over, I did! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/90 "2010-05-03T13:21:19Z")
We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green mile is so long."–Stephen King “The Green Mile” ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/91 "2010-05-03T14:13:57Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’m pretty sure it was a Ray Bradbury story, can’t find the name, but there a psycho dad who had wanted a son and got a daughter, and a Halloween game in the dark basement where you feel some grapes …“and this was his eyes”…and feel a piece of liver…“and this was his guts”…etc. And the little daughter was discovered missing and the hunt was on, kids running around calling her name, and in the basement: > > “and then some idiot turned on the lights”. Just went and read this story. Simultaneously glad and very sorry I did. I’m creeped out, and I want to hug my daughter. Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/92 "2010-05-03T15:26:00Z")
“The sun was just coming up over the hills on his right. As he peered ahead into the great land that stretched before him, the way seemed long. But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.” E.B. White, _Stuart Little_ “Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Ernest Hemingway, _The Sun Also Rises_ “Timshel!” John Steinbeck, _East of Eden_ ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/93 "2010-05-03T16:40:12Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > _Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after‑time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child‑life, and the happy summer days._ > > Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. Can’t believe I forgot that one. Absolutely my favorite part of a wonderful book. ---
**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 3, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/94 "2010-05-03T17:59:25Z")
I’m going to give one from an average book that gets it perfect, then doesn’t stop and so fails: _Blue Moon Rising_ by Simon Green _They set off down the dusty trail that led into the Forest, and so passed out of history and into legend._ If he’d left it there it would have been perfect, but he continues: _And whereever they went, and whatever they found, Rupert, Julia, the dragon and the unicorn faced it together. Heroes, all._ Epic fail. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/95 "2010-05-03T19:40:23Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m going to give one from an average book that gets it perfect, then doesn’t stop and so fails: _Blue Moon Rising_ by Simon Green > > _They set off down the dusty trail that led into the Forest, and so passed out of history and into legend._ > > If he’d left it there it would have been perfect, but he continues: > > _And whereever they went, and whatever they found, Rupert, Julia, the dragon and the unicorn faced it together. Heroes, all._ > > Epic fail. I think the fail began after the first comma. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/96 "2010-05-03T19:55:22Z")
“An’ they chased him ‘n’ never could catch him ‘cause they didn’t know what he looked like, an’ Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things… Atticus, he was real nice…” His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” He turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning. –Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird” ---
**Author:** ![Cato\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cato\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cato_Major)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/97 "2010-05-04T05:25:28Z")
And what a romp they had! The bathroom was drenched with their splashings. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. Point Counterpoint, Aldous Huxley ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/98 "2010-05-18T13:52:45Z")
The last line of Kerouac’s On The Road is a masterpiece: > [@Jack Kerouac](#): > > So in American when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonigh the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides thee forlorn rags of groing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarity, the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789/99 "2010-05-18T20:31:18Z")
Surprised nobody quoted Dickens’ _Tale of Two Cities_ yet: > [@](#): > > It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-great-last-lines-of-stories-you-love/537789.md?page=4)