What will your last words be?

Independence forever.

—John Adams

My Paetus, it is not painful.

—Arria

Have I not played the farce of life well?

—Augustus Caesar

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the—

—The Venerable Bede

I shall hear.

—Beethoven (deaf)

Why are you not happy? 

You die innocent—

All your family follow you to partake with you.

—Madame de Bois Beranger (to her mother who was executed, together with her father, brother and sister)

Is not this dying with true courage and true greatness?

—Madame de Berry

It is a great consolation to a poet about to die that he has never written anything injurious to virtue.

—Boileau

No, I am ready at any time. 

But do not keep me needlessly waiting.

—John Brown (to the hangman)

Let the earth be filled with His glory.

—Bishop Broughton

Please play Mozart's Requiem.

—Ole Bull

Take me, for I come to thee.

—John Bunyan

I am satisfied—I die content.

—William Burrows

I must sleep now.

—Byron

I die contented.

—William Campbell

Quite comfortable—quite happy—nothing more.

—Dr Robert Chambers

Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!

—Charlemagne

Remember.

—Charles I to William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury

Ah! Jesus.

—Charles V

Thy will be done.

Sir Edward Coke

I have such sweet thoughts.

—Prince Consort

I am sweeping through the gates, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

—Alford Cookman

Now, O Lord, set free thy servant.

—Copernicus

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

The unworthy hand. 

Lord, receive my spirit.

—Archbishop Cranmer (holding his right hand in the flame)

I will kneel only to my God.

—Lieut. Crittenden (shot on being ordered to kneel)

My desire is to make what haste I may to be gone. Then I am safe.

—Cromwell

Jesus!

—King Edward

I am faint—

Lord have mercy on me; receive my spirit.

—Edward VI

Trust in God, and you need not fear.

Jonathan Edwards

He who noteth even the fall of a sparrow will have some purpose even in the fate of one like me.

—Col E. Ellsworth

Lord, receive my spirit.

—Farr

We all are going to heaven, and Vandyke is of the company.

—Gainsborough

More Light! 

Let the light enter.

—Goethe

Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

—Lady Jane Grey

I have no ill will against Colonel Burr. 

I met him with a fixed determination to do him no harm. 

I forgive all that happened.

—Alexander Hamilton (to Bishop More and Rev. Dr Mason)

O, tie a rope around my body, and draw me out of bed, and lay me down upon the ashes, that I may die with prayers to God in a repentant manner.

—Prince Henry, son of Henry II

I am Harry, of Winchester.

—Henry III

Now, Lord, receive my soul.

—Herbert

Lord, receive my spirit.

—George Herbert

Now I am about to take my last voyage—

A great leap in the dark.

—Hobbs

How grand these rays—

They seem to beckon earth to heaven.

—Alexander von Humboldt

If I had strength to hold a pen, I would write down how easy and pleasant a thing it is to die.

—Dr William Hunter

If I die, I die unto the Lord. Amen.

—Irving

Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees.

—Stonewall Jackson

I resign my spirit to God—my daughter—to my country.

—Thomas Jefferson

It is finished.

—Jesus Christ

Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit.

—Jesus Christ

God be blessed.

—Joan-of-Arc

Jesus.

—Joan-of-Arc (at the stake, ending her eventful and stormy life)

God bless you, my dear!

—Dr Johnson (to Miss Morris)

God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

—Joseph the Patriarch

Napoleon.

—Josephine—Isle of Elba

God's will be done.

—Bishop Ken

Now it is come.

—Knox

By the arm of St James, it is time to die!

—Leicester

Ah! but I have been nearer to you, my friend, many a time, and you have missed me.

—Sir George Lisle

O, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

—John Locke

I will enter now into the house of the Lord.

—Louis IX

Why weep ye? 

Did you think I should live forever. 

I thought dying had been harder.

—Louis XIV

My God, enlighten and affect my executioner. 

Adieu, my children—my beloved ones forever! 

I am going to your father.

—Marie Antoinette

Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

—Mary, Queen of Scots

I am ready.

—Charles Matthews

O, my poor soul, whither wilt thou go?

—Cardinal Mazarin

Nothing but heaven.

—Melancthon (to the question, Do you want anything?)

My soul, I resign to God, my body to the earth, and my worldly goods to my next of kin.

—Michael Angelo

O Allah, be it so! 

Henceforth, among the glorious hosts of paradise.

—Mohammed

Lord, pardon me, and place me among those whom thou hast raised to grace and favour.

—Mohammed

Patty, joy!

—Hannah More

I thank God I have done my duty.

—Nelson

There is another and better country. [This was a line in the part he was acting].

—Palmer (the actor on the stage)

May God never forsake me!

—Pascal

Jesu.

—Pizarro

Let down the curtain; the farce is over.

—Rabelais

Open the window that I may see the beauties of Nature.

—Rousseau (to his wife)

Many things are growing plain and clear to my understanding.

—Schiller

I feel as if I were myself again. 

God bless you all! 

—Sir Walter Scott

I shall be happy.

—Archbishop Sharpe

I know that my Redeemer liveth. 

I die for the good old cause.

—Algernon Sidney

Let me behold the end of this world with all its vanities—or, I would not change my joy for the empire of the world.

Sir Philip Sidney

O Lord; my God!

—Joseph Smith

I have loved God, my father, and liberty.

—Madame de Stael

I thank God I am no more afraid of death, nor daunted with any discouragement arising from any fears, but do as cheerfully put off my doublet at this time as ever I did when I went to bed.

—Stratford

I am not afraid to die—I am ready—I have endeavoured to do my duty.

—Zachary Taylor

Christ is all.

—Tewksberry (a noted London martyr)

Ut puto dcus fio. (I think I am becoming a god).

—Vespasian, the Roman Emperor

It is well.

—Washington

I still live.

—Daniel Webster

The best of all is God is with us. 

Pray and praise.

—John Wesley

I commend my soul to Mary.

—William, the Conqueror

Make way for liberty.

—Arnold Winkelried

I die contented. 

—General Wolfe

The Encyclopaedia of Death and Life in the Spirit World—Opinions and Experiences from Eminent Sources