“I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.. I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than two days after I am dead. Do you understand me? ‘Tis well.”
The final words of the first President of the US, spoken to his private secretary – he wanted to be certain of not being entombed alive. George Washington died at his home from a ‘violent inflammation of the throat’ at the age of 84.
“Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.”
The final words of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, who was also known as Octavian. After several months of poor health he died while visiting the town of Nola, which was also the place of his father’s death.
“A dying man can do nothing easily.”
One of the founding fathers of the US, replying to his daughter when she suggested he may breathe easier by lying on his side. Benjamin Franklin died at his home in Philadelphia from pleurisy, aged 84.
“Shoot me in the chest.”
The controversial dictator speaking prior to being executed by a partisan leader, the shooting took place in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra, Italy.
“She won’t think anything about it.”
Reassuring his wife that their friend wouldn’t mind them holding hands, shortly afterwards he was fatally shot in the head from behind by assassin John Wilkes Booth.
“It is not my design to drink or sleep. My design is to make what haste I can to be gone.”
Politician, statesman and soldier, this was his response when offered a drink by a servant. He died at the palace of Whitehall, the cause of death most likely being sepsis following a urinary infection.
“Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.”
Economist and philosopher dying from bronchitis and pleurisy, this was his response when asked by a housekeeper what his last words were.
