1Cicero
When Roman soldiers stopped the late senator Cicero, his final words before dying were “There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly”. He then bowed to the soldiers and was promptly decapitated.
2. On his deathbed, Walt Disney scrawled his final words on a piece of paper: "Kurt Russell."
3. When aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal was on his deathbed after sustaining a fatal injury from a crash, his last words were “Small sacrifices must be made.”
4. Not long before his death, Freddie Mercury, confined to his bed, got to see an advance copy of the "Wayne's World" scene with Wayne and Garth headbanging to "Bohemian Rhapsody". He loved it and approved of the song's use in the film. The movie, in part, helped launch Queen's comeback in the USA.
5. A man named Hiram Calder on his deathbed was discovered to have been born a woman, making him the first biological female to vote in Florida due to his participation in every election.
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6Richard Dawkins
Evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins has arranged for his final hour of life to be tape-recorded and to have witnesses present (as of March 2021). This is so nobody can say he had a death bed conversion to Christianity out of fear of burning in hell.
7. While on his deathbed, Alexander Graham Bell's wife (Mabel Gardiner Hubbard) begged him not to leave her. Bell's last word was, "No."
8. Poisoned former KGB spy, Alexander Litvinenko converted to Islam on his deathbed.
9. Epicurus, the father of hedonism, died from a painful urinary blockage. On his deathbed, he still declared that he was happy because his "philosophical recollections counterbalances all these afflictions"
10. Private 1st Class Edward H. Ahrens during World War 2 was found clutching a sword surrounded by 13 dead Japanese soldiers. His final words to his commanding officer on his deathbed were “I guess they didn't know I was a marine.”
11Henrik Ibsen
When Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen was on his deathbed, an aide came into the room and asked if he was doing better. He answered, “on the contrary” and then died.
12. On his deathbed, French physicist Ampère ordered the inscription on his tombstone to be “Tandem Felix” (Happy at Last).
13. Napoleon III's defeat and surrender at the Battle of Sedan during the Franco-Prussian War haunted him for the rest of his life. On his deathbed his last words were a question posed to his doctor: “We were not cowards at Sedan, were we?”
14. The Athenaeum in Boston holds the only known copy of the deathbed confessions of a 19th Century Massachusetts highway robber James Allen who ordered those memoirs to be printed, bound in skin taken from his back, and to be presented to the only man who ever stood up to him.
15. On his deathbed, Steve Jobs refused to wear an oxygen mask as he felt it was poorly designed.
16George Washington
George Washington said "Do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead" on his deathbed because he was afraid he'd be buried alive.
17. Arnold Rothstein established countless rackets and casinos and was one of the richest mobsters during Prohibition. He was shot during a poker game, but on his deathbed, he refused to snitch. He said "You stick to your trade. I'll stick to mine" and "My mother did it."
18. In the early 1960s, Bob Dylan traveled across the nation while Woody Guthrie lied on his deathbed in order to play “Song to Woody” to Guthrie before his death.
19. When billionaire hotelier Conrad Hilton (Paris Hilton’s grandfather) was asked on his deathbed if he had any final words, he said “Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub” and then died.
20. Lewis and Clark owe their lives not just to Sacagawea, but also to the Nez Perce woman Watkuweis. On her deathbed, Watkuweis convinced her people not to kill Lewis and Clark because she had once been helped by white people whilst making a daring escape from her captors.
21Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a true musical genius, composing his first piece at the tender age of five. His final piece, “Requiem”, was composed on his death bed, and he has been decomposing ever since.
22. When Pope Innocent VIII was on his deathbed in 1492, his doctors bled three young boys, killing them, and had the pontiff drink their blood to restore his health.
23. While on his death bed, the emperor Vespasian sarcastically remarked " Oh dear, I think I am becoming a God"
24. Robert I King of Scots on his deathbed asked a lieutenant to bring his embalmed heart on a crusade. James Douglas took the heart to join the Spanish reconquista where he died during the Battle of Teba. His flesh was boiled off of his bones and the rest of him was sent back to Scotland with the heart.
25. Christian Spurling, the man who took the most memorable photo of the Loch Ness Monster confessed to it being fake on his deathbed.
