Some Deathbed Quotes and Last Words of Famous Men and Women

Here is a collection of last or dying words of some famous men and women. These quotes were taken from "Voices from the Edge of Eternity" compiled by John Myers. Some of these statements are believed to have been made on the deathbed, others when the speaker was contemplating his or her own demise.

Elizabeh B. Browning (famous English poetess on her deathbed): "It is beautiful!"

Lady Jane Grey (Queen of England for 10 days in 1554 when facing her execution): "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit!"

Thomas A. Edison (famous inventor on his deathbed): "It is very beautiful over there."

Thomas Paine (of American Revolutionary fame): "Away with you, and your God too! Leave the room instantly! All that you have uttered are lies, filthy lies, and if I had a little more time I would prove it, as I did about your impostor, Jesus Christ." (Upon being visited by a Catholic priest on his deathbed.) Paine's last recorded words were "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Michelangelo Buonarotti (famous painter): "Throughout life remember the sufferings of Jesus."

Sir Walter Raleigh (famous English admiral when facing his execution): "It matters little how the head lies if the heart be right. Why dost thou not strike?" (The admiral was beheaded in 1618.)

Oliver Cromwell: "The devil is ready to seduce us, and I have been seduced."

Edward Augustus (father of Queen Victoria on his death bed): "Remember, if I am to be saved, it is not as a prince, but as a sinner."

Ommyade, Sultan of Spain (died A.D. 961): "Fifty years have passed since first I was Caliph. Riches, honors, pleasures -- I have enjoyed all. In this long time of seeming happiness I have numbered the days on which I have been happy. Fourteen."

Cardinal Wolsey (of Henry VIII fame): "Had I but served God as diligently as I have served the king, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs. But this is the just reward that I must received for my incessant pains and study, not regarding my service to God, but only to my prince."

Charles Talleyrand (French statesman, died 1838): "I am suffering, sire, the pangs of the damned!" (Spoken, it is believed, on his deathbed.)

Napoleon Bonaparte: "I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth to become food for worms. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss lies between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ!"

Queen Elizabeth (died 1603): "All my possessions for a moment of time!"

Peter the Great (Czar of Russia on his deathbed): "I believe, Lord, and confess -- help my unbelief!"

William Pitt (English Statesman, died 1778): "I have, like other men, neglected spiritual matters too much to have any ground of hope that can be efficacious on a death bed. I now throw myself on the mercy of God through the merits of Christ."

Blessings!

Source
John Myers (compiled by). Voices From the Edge of Eternity