page_title: List of last words
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: List of last words / Chronological list of last words / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Captain Mel Apt in the cockpit of the Bell X-2 rocket-powered aircraft. This image was cropped from a larger photo of Iven C. Kinchloe and Mel Apt.
context_page_description: Last words or final words are a person's final articulated words, stated prior to death or as death approaches. Last words may not necessarily be written down or accurately recorded, and they may not be quoted accurately for a variety of reasons.
  Famous last words include literal utterings such as the sayings of Jesus on the cross, "Et tu, Brute?" from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and the ironic sense of words said before a disaster, such as:
  "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!" General John Sedgwick at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House immediately before being killed by enemy fire.
  "Let all brave Prussians follow me!" Field Marshal Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin at the Battle of Prague, immediately before being hit in the head by a cannonball.
  "What do you think I'm gonna do? Blow my brains out?" Terry Kath of the band Chicago, just before putting a pistol to his temple and pulling the trigger.
context_section_description: "Bertie."
  — Victoria, queen regnant of the United Kingdom (22 January 1901), calling to her eldest son and heir, Albert, Prince of Wales.
  "Are the doctors here? Doctor, my lungs..."
  — Benjamin Harrison, president of the United States (13 March 1901), dying of pneumonia
  "Goodbye, all, goodbye. It is God's way. His will be done."
  — William McKinley, president of the United States (14 September 1901), dying after being shot on 6 September
  "So little done, so much to do."
  — Cecil Rhodes, British businessman and politician (26 March 1902)
  "Have you brought the chequebook, Alfred?"
  — Samuel Butler, English novelist (18 June 1902)
  "It's a long time since I drank champagne."
  ("Давно я не пил шампанского...")
  — Anton Chekhov, Russian author and playwright (15 July [O.S. 2 July] 1904), to his wife, Olga
  "On the contrary!"
  ("Tvertimod!")
  — Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (23 May 1906), to his maid, who had said his health was improving
  "Doctor, you have science, I have faith."
  — Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist (2 February [O.S. 20 January] 1907)
  "In spite of it all, I am going to sleep; put out the lights."
  — Thomas Bailey Aldrich, American author and editor (19 March 1907)
  "I have tried so hard to do right."
  — Grover Cleveland, president of the United States (24 June 1908), to his wife Frances
  "I am about the extent of a tenth of a gnat's eyebrow better."
  — Joel Chandler Harris, American author and folklorist (3 July 1908), on being asked how he felt
  "Never again allow a woman to hold the supreme power in the State... [and] be careful not to allow eunuchs to meddle in government affairs."
  — Empress Dowager Cixi, de facto ruler of China (15 November 1908)
  "Cut 'er loose, Doc!"
  — Frederic Remington, American artist (26 December 1909), prior to emergency appendectomy; he subsequently died of peritonitis
  "Give me my glasses."
  — Mark Twain, American novelist (21 April 1910), to his daughter Clara
  "Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad."
  — Edward VII, king of the United Kingdom (6 May 1910), on being told by his son that one of his horses had won a race
  "Pull up the shades; I don't want to go home in the dark."
  — O. Henry, American writer (5 June 1910), to a hospital nurse
  "Higher. Always higher."
  ("Arriba. Siempre arriba.")
  — Jorge Chávez, Peruvian aviator (27 September 1910), after being fatally injured in airplane crash
  "To die this way is stupid... And it would please so many scoundrels!… This very night, Magalhães, I could have died for the Republic!"
  ("Morrer assim é estúpido… E há tanto malandro que ia ficar radiante!… Esta noite, Magalhães, podia eu morrer pela República!")
  — Miguel Bombarda, Portuguese psychiatrist (3 October 1910), after being shot by a mental patient
  "But the peasants...how do the peasants die?"
  — Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (20 November [O.S. 7 November] 1910), to a station master in whose home he died
  "Mozart!"
  — Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (18 May 1911)
  "Put your hands on my shoulders and don't struggle."
  — W. S. Gilbert, English dramatist and librettist (29 May 1911), while saving 17-year-old Ruby Preece from drowning, which caused his fatal heart attack
  "Here I go."
  — Cromwell Dixon, American aviator (2 October 1911), as his biplane crashed sideways
  "One last drink, please."
  — Jack Daniel, American alcohol businessman (10 October 1911)
  "I am just going outside and may be some time."
  — Lawrence Oates, British Antarctic explorer (17 March 1912), prior to walking out of tent and into blizzard on Terra Nova Expedition
  "The ladies have to go first.... Get in the lifeboat, to please me.... Good-bye, dearie. I'll see you later."
  — John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman (15 April 1912), remaining aboard the RMS Titanic while his pregnant wife boarded lifeboat
  "Well boys, do your best for the women and children, and look out for yourselves."
  — Edward Smith, sea captain of the RMS Titanic (15 April 1912), giving orders before walking onto the bridge and staying with the sinking ship
  "Swing low, sweet chariot."
  — Harriet Tubman, American humanitarian and activist (10 March 1913)
  "It is nothing... i
caption: Milburn G. "Mel" Apt in cockpit of Bell X-2.
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