Ever imagined what your last words in life would be?

Would you impart a final piece of wisdom to your family like Bob Marley? Or you could take a leaf out of Oscar Wilde’s book and make one last memorable witticism.For most of us, it’s unlikely we’ve got a perfect one-liner in mind for our final moments, but there’s no doubt that we’re fascinated by the parting lines of our cultural and historical heroes.It may be impossible to sum up an extraordinary life in just a few words, but it might just surprise you how these 11 famous names bid a final adieu.

 

1 ‘Money can’t buy life’ – Bob Marley
The Jamaican musician and pioneer of reggae spoke these words to his son, Ziggy, before he died of cancer in 1981, aged 36.

2 ‘Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough’ – Karl Marx
These were the last words shouted by the German philosopher to his housekeeper in 1883, after she asked if he had anything he wanted to say.

3 ‘I hope the exit is joyful and hope never to return’ – Frida Kahlo
The iconic Mexican artist, renowned for her ground-breaking self portrait series, recorded this final sentiment in her personal diary a few days before her death in 1954.

4 ‘Dammit, don’t you dare ask God to help me’ – Joan Crawford
The parting shot of formidable Hollywood legend Joan Crawford was aimed at her housekeeper, who had begun praying aloud at the actor’s bedside.

5 ‘I’m bored with it all’ – Winston Churchill
Never one to mince his words, the Prime Minister who led Britain through World War Two kept things to the point.

6 ‘I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord’ – Bessie Smith
Lauded as “The Empress of the Blues”, Smith was one of the most celebrated and beloved singers of the 1920s and 30s before her death in 1937.

7 ‘All my possessions for a moment of time!’ – Queen Elizabeth I
A humbling reminder that even a queen must bow to the passage of time. The 16th century monarch died at 70 years of age before being interred at Westminster Abbey in London.

8 ‘Goodnight my darlings, I’ll see you tomorrow’ – Noel Coward
The playwright died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Jamaica in 1974, after an evening with friends. A memorial stone was unveiled in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey by the Queen Mother who said: “I came because he was my friend.”

9 ‘Oh, I am not going to die, am I? He will not separate us, we have been so happy’ – Charlotte Brontë
This haunting lament from one of the most celebrated novelists of the nineteenth century was shared with the writer’s husband, Arthur Bell Nichols. The couple were married less than a year when Brontë died in 1855.

10 ‘A life is like a garden, perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP’ – Leonard Nimoy
The beloved Star Trek actor delivered this final thought to the Twittersphere a few days before his death in 2015. ‘LLAP’ is shorthand for ‘Live long and prosper’, the classic catchphrase of Nimoy’s TV alter-ego, Spock.

11 ‘My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go’ – Oscar Wilde
Witty to the end, the Irish playwright and novelist is reported to have spoken these words to friends in the weeks leading up to his death in 1900.

Lastly but not least we have Riky Rick whose last words were “This rope is killing me”