Famous Last Words

Supposedly...
Caesar said, "Et tu, Brute?"
John Quincy Adams said, "This is all there is of earth! I am content!"
Doc Holliday said, "This is funny."
Beethoven said, "Friends applaud! The comedy is over."
Poe said, "Lord help my poor soul."

These are rumored to be the famous last words of these historical figures, uttered as they died. It could be said that Caesar's are the most famous, and maybe the most heartbreaking. He was speaking to his friend, Marcus Brutus, who had taken part in the conspiracy to murder Caesar. This man was close to Caesar, and as he fell, Caesar looked at his friend, and said, "And you, Brutus?" He couldn't believe that Brutus was involved. His last thoughts, if this account is true, were of how his friend betrayed him so horribly. To this day, those words, "Et tu, Brute?" are used often when people are discussing betrayal. They were so powerful that they have become part of our language.

Last words are tremendously important, for many reasons. I often think about the last words that I said to my grandfather. When it's said and done, last words are all that there is, really. When writers end a novel or a story, just as when they open them, they have to think carefully about what they will leave their reader with. Opening lines have to hook a reader, while closing words have to satisfy, and they have to resonate (This is one of my favorite words. Look it up if you don't know it.)

What's one of the best closings you've ever read?