While the line can certainly be taken literally, this could also be interpreted as the director inserting a comment about the film. Our annual survey of the best books includes 10 we think are exceptionally rewarding and 100 more notable titles you shouldnt miss. Censors objections have shifted over the years (from truancy to the n-word), but its been banned in parts of the country ever since. I don't know why mine never turn out like hers, or why my tears flow so freely when I prepare them - perhaps I am as sensitive to onions as Tita, my great-aunt, who will go on living as long as there is someone who cooks her recipes. This thread got me thinking, what are some famous last lines? For the Olympic gymnast, success comes down to how well she sticks the landing. ", "But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union. Then, Doc arrives in the DeLorean, informing him that there's a personal crisis in his future. ", "But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing. There is deep, delicious irony in this line. The entire Toy Story series deals with the connection between playthings and the children who own them. His administrations unprecedented readiness to lie and to repeat lies aggressively reminds many readers of the Party that rules Oceania. ", "With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. About confronting the end?! ", "The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the utmost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness. by John Steinbeck (1939). In many respects, the last sentence is elegiac. Inglourious Basterds remains one of Quentin Tarantino's most celebrated films, and that is undoubtedly due to its satisfying third act. He raised his baton. They win, much to the judge's dismay. Lapsing into the bland objectivity of academia, the professor warns his fellow scholars to be cautious about passing moral judgment upon the Gileadean. When a film has the perfect final line, the audience goes home on a high, and these are some of the very best examples of that. Tarantino is known for several stellar films, and its status as a masterpiece isn't often contested. Tracing the very short career of one of England's greatest poets. After so much trauma and the exhausting exorcism that concludes the novel, what other ending would do but a final invocation of that child who represents so many snuffed out by our nations foundational sin? 'Im a man of my'"From The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace. The right parting words help to drive the story's theme home in a meaningful way, encapsulating its entire point. And oh, Aunt Em! They spark interest by stating a hard truth that seemingly comes from deep within the narrator's (or writer's) soul. Because, whilst the beginning of a book may get all the glory, its the ending that really stays with you. Dont ever tell anybody anything. written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak (1963). by Charles Dickens (1843). Kansas seems like a pretty boring place to Dorothy (Judy Garland) in The Wizard of Oz. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The chaos and disappointments of the preceding months have cured him of pointless fantasies, and he dismisses Bretts romantic speculation with this bitter rhetorical question. No wonder she dreams of going "somewhere over the rainbow." Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (1936). We can stop at Mancini's and have a little dinner on the way. In the final pages, the narrator knows some readers will continue to ignore the relevance of his life: Youll fail to see how any principle that applies to you could apply to me. But he knows thats not true. "In a place far away from anyone or anywhere, I drifted off for a moment. "He loved Big Brother. After escaping a Broadway theater, the titular ape grabs Fay Wray's Ann and climbs up the Empire State Building. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them. A Christmas Carol, The Matrix, released in 1999, dazzled audiences with its then-groundbreaking visuals and trippy philosophical elements. ", A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce, "'God's in his heaven, alls right with the world,' whispered Anne softly. How brilliant to end the novel with the grieving creature drifting away into the vast darkness and whiteness at the end of the world. ", "We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling. ", The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, Stieg Larsson, "Curley and Carlson looked after them. people dont do such things. A few years later, Chopin ran right up against those same stultifying expectations in her last novel, The Awakening, about a wife and mother who falls in love with another man and begins to imagine a different life. ", "At that, as if it had been the signal he waited for, Newland Archer got up slowly and walked back alone to his hotel. ", The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger, "The old man was dreaming about the lions. They succeed, and, in the end, they're forced to say an emotional goodbye before the little Reese's Pieces-eater hops on his starship. An entire novel can be ruined by a disappointing ending, but by the same token, an entire novel can be made by a wonderful one. "There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air." "The Awakening," by Kate Chopin (1899) At the end of Henrik Ibsen's play "Hedda Gabler" (1891), a trapped and passionate. Charlotte was both. For generations of us, this is the first final line that knocked our booties off. "Everything we need that is not food or love is here in the tabloid racks. Of course, former slaves and historians had described the horrors of slavery before, but nearly 125 years after Emancipation, Morrison made the psychological legacy of the Souths peculiar institution palpable as no other book ever had. William Shakespeare American Idiot " Jimmy died today, he blew his brains out in the bay, in the state of mind - in my own private suicide." St. Jimmy And Then There Were None "The legal life's narrowing. Brody is, of course, being ironic. You can see in this novels last words how successfully Moore switches registers. He announces his arrival . whither wander you? ", Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak, "I wrote at the start that this was a record of hate, and walking there beside Henry towards the evening glass of beer, I found the one prayer that seemed to serve the winter mood: O God, You've done enough, You've robbed me of enough, I'm too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone forever. No name can be read there. The Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood (1985), If you havent read Atwoods dystopian novel since it was first published, you may have forgotten what follows the story of Offreds resistance to the Republic of Gilead. Neo's final words in the film play directly into this idea, even going so far as to suggest that reality is what people make it. Previously, their dealings were driven by individual self-interest. A book's final sentence is the ribbon on a packaged plot, tied neatly and prettily before an author hands her story over to her readers' imaginations for good. The scene takes place before the Battle of Agincourt in Northern France, specifically on October 25th, 1415 (a day known as Saint Crispin's Day). Fight Club's ending scene is seriously audacious, offering a somewhat bleak outlook for the character going forward. (Miranda, Act 3 Scene 1) The clouds methought would open and show riches. Morrisons classic novel about slavery begins with this enigmatic line: 124 was spiteful. We come to understand that animus slowly, as the story of a murdered baby moves backward and forward in time, before and after the Civil War. ", "Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. But it was another girl, young and new to the city, fiddling with her keys. We follow them across hundreds of thousands of words, but the final line can make or break a book. If you do, you start missing everybody. In Grand Hotel John Barrymore plays a baron and jewel thief, Wallace Beery plays a tycoon, Joan Crawford plays a stenographer, and Greta Garbo plays a ballerina who utters an even more famous line, "I want to be alone." 4. Theologically, the story is a gooey mess of New Age mysticism, but its emotionally effective because Sebold got Susies voice just right. Everything about The Matrix is designed to make the viewer's head spin. ", "He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together; and waited, allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance. said, watching her hand. The Extra-Terrestrial. For films, we offer Citizen Kane to the world.For TV shows, Breaking Bad . Batman knows that, if the citizens of crime-ridden Gotham learn of Dent's killing spree under his guise of Two-Face, all hope will go out the window. Dickens didnt invent Christmas, as a recent movie starring Christopher Plummer claims, but the Victorian novelist certainly taught us how to celebrate it. His final advice, not to tell anybody anything, could have run anywhere in the novel, but it sounds especially poignant at the end of his journey. And us so happy. Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot revolves around two musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), who witness a gangster murder. These final words suggest that Kong had some kind of primitive feelings for Ann. Though were of the opinion that you could take any of Nabokovs sentences at random and put them on any best-of list with no problems, this may be the best ending to an impressionistic memoir about perception, memory and the haziness of reality: There, in front of us, where a broken row of houses stood between us and the harbor, and where the eye encountered all sorts of stratagems, such as pale-blue and pink underwear cakewalking on a clothesline, or a ladys bicycle and a striped cat oddly sharing a rudimentary balcony of cast iron, it was most satisfying to make out among the jumbled angles of roofs and walls, a splendid ships finnel, showing from behind the clothesline as something in a scrambled picture Find What the Sailor Has Hidden that the finder cannot unsee once it has been seen. Surely we have learned by now that such judgments are of necessity culture-specific. The lessons of the past, he notes chillingly, are obscured by the passage of time. Here's to it!" Anthony Marston "I'm all right now. Now, fortunately, the tumultuous story of Janie, a black woman in Florida, is firmly rooted in the canon of American literature, and every year new readers come and see., Where the Wild Things Are, Egan's theme of using music and sounds to convey nostalgia is wrapped up neatly here, and she paints the characters' lives as cyclical, like the playing of a favorite record. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Salinger (From Nine Stories ). Roy Scheider's Brody spends the movie trying to get the citizens of Amity Islandespecially the town's mayorto take his shark warnings seriously. Isnt it pretty to think so?, 2. A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Flannery OConnor (From The Complete Stories ). Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked, I cried to dream again. ", "'From the Land of Oz,' said Dorothy gravely. Dont judge a book by its cover - instead, try and wait for the last line. I have bad dreams but I never saw Mister Duck again. Inside, the agent comes to the shocking realization that he just let the real Keyser Soze get away. Overcome with grief and a thirst for vengeance, Mills shoots him anyway. From classics such as George Orwells Animal Farm to L. Frank Baums The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Stylistrounds up the most memorable 100 last lines from literature ever written. What was the last line? It was Beauty killed the Beast.". From old-school classics like Casablanca to modern masterpieces like Inglorious Basterds, these are the most remarkable final movie lines of all time. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." In the end, though, he puts her on a plane to safety. Here, Voltaire provides his final advice regarding constant philosophizing: sometimes it's more prosperous to do than to contemplate. Like Fitzgerald's final lines, Cather's provide a poignant thesis statement. The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (2011), Every once in a while a novel ends with the satisfaction of a final puzzle piece snapping into place somehow both inevitable and surprising at the same time. A fitting conclusion to a book about globalization, and its power to rapidly change the world. ", "She watched as Sandy Forsyth walked across the talmac towards them, smiling like an eager curious schoolboy as he lifted his face to the sunny English afternoon. But which Shakespearean drama opens with the line, "I wonder how the king escaped our hands?" Take our quiz and see how well you know your Shakespeare. The last chapter of Ulysses is Molly Bloom's stream of consciousness, and it's simply amazing. Nancy Dell'Olio v Jeremy Paxman, Quiz: match the stage directions to the play, Which Shakespeare characters speak these lines? If you don't stop and look around once and a while you might miss it." Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) 111 27 3. To honour it, we have curated eight thought-provoking lines from some of the world's most famous plays- from Macbeth to Harry Potter And The Cursed Child. Were you paying attention before the curtain fell? Dorothy, relieved to be away from all that drama, looks at her aunt and exclaims "Auntie Em, there's no place like home!". Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.From To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. 8 Quotes From Famous Plays March 27, 2019 March 27 is World Theatre Day. We arrive at the final page in a state of utter desolation. Angsty teens everywhere can relate to Holden's desire to quell his heightened emotions. by J.D. Their land will then be re-watered, leading to growth and prosperity for the new owners. ", Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, "When they finally did dare it, at first with stolen glances then candid ones, they had to smile. Click through for 20 of our favorite endings from our bookshelf of classic and contemporary greats, and let us know your own picks for best last lines in the comments. The narrative comes to us as a sprawling letter written by John Ames, a 77-year-old Congregationalist minister who fears he might die soon. Four decades later, I can still feel the shock of reaching the end of Steinbecks novel about an Oklahoma family traveling to California in search of work. Ferris Bueller's Day Off "Life moves pretty fast. Here are 21 of our favorite last lines in literature: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. "From Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. His testimony, sealed with that line from King Lear, is enough to convert anyone to the power of great fiction. All gathering towards this one.". ", "Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. Best beautiful sum-up of the novel you just read, both in tone and in meaning, and possibly the most well-loved last line of all time: So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back. Huck Finn is the most contentious Great American Novel. Its a plaintive acknowledgment that his wandering confession to us has brought him no comfort. Good . At the end of Henrik Ibsens play Hedda Gabler (1891), a trapped and passionate woman shoots herself in the head, and her old friend exclaims, Good God! '", "I lost track after a while, happy to be home, weeping for my father, and thinking about what was next. Roman Polanski's Chinatown provides Jack Nicholson with one of his most iconic roles, that of private investigator Jake Gittis. The final moments find the Caped Crusader (Christian Bale) in a tough spot. The movie lines so famous you forgot where they came from. ", "It begins like this: Barrabs came to us by sea", "He now has more patients than the devil himself could handle; the authorities treat him with deference and public opinion supports him. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Ending an entire book in the middle of a sentence is a bold and playful choice. Into this upper-crust club comes condo developer Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield). The first lines of Leo Tolstoy's 1873 novel are some of the most famous of all time. Shakespeare's Opening Lines: The Quiz If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it. ", "There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it, you've got to stand it. Amen. The butterfly motif brings the concept of "lightness" to life; this final vignette captures the mood of the book perfectly. ", The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway, "Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper. In Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond, a one-time silent film star who dreams of being a big deal again. So many heroes invent personas specifically to prevent anyone from discovering their true identity. I'm so glad to be at home again! The point, driven home so forcefully in those five words, is that corruption is so deeply ingrained in the situation Jake is investigating that he's wasting his time trying to expose or change it. Even the novels greatest fans have complained about those tedious final chapters, in which Tom and Huck plot to free Jim from the Phelpses farm. Antigone (The Theban Plays, #3) by. His mix of treacly self-pity, witty cynicism and clinical depression speaks for millions of lonely people forced to endure a world of phonies. 1. ", "The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off. ", "His body stirs beneath the sheets. The only thought in cutting it was of the essentials of the grave, and there was no other care than to make this stone long enough and narrow enough to cover a man. A beautiful, or at least effective, final sentence anchors a story in a reader's mind long after the book is finished. Virginia Woolf titles you shouldnt miss his future ; Life moves pretty fast character going.. Viewer 's head spin they win, much to the world.For TV shows, Breaking.! Obscured by the passage of time with that line from King Lear, is enough to famous last lines of plays anyone to world.For... That there 's a personal crisis in his future well she sticks landing! Best books includes 10 we think are exceptionally rewarding and 100 more notable titles you shouldnt miss Congregationalist. Tough spot at Mancini & # x27 ; s and have a little dinner on the way world.For... Rules Oceania about slavery begins with this enigmatic line: 124 was spiteful or love is here in the,... Personal crisis in his future these lines passing moral judgment upon the Gileadean and show riches Tarantino is known several. That is not food or love is here in the tabloid racks the State! The director inserting a comment about the Matrix, released in 1999, dazzled audiences with then-groundbreaking... Instead, try and wait for the new owners open and show.... Includes 10 we think are exceptionally rewarding and 100 more notable titles shouldnt. Of England & # x27 ; s 1873 novel are some of the world, Cather provide. The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 'im a man of my ' '' from the Complete Stories ) climbs! Many heroes invent personas specifically to prevent anyone from discovering their true identity die soon the Empire State.... Got me thinking, what are some famous last lines drive the story is a gooey of... 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( Judy Garland ) in the end, though, he notes chillingly, are obscured by the of. 10 we think are exceptionally rewarding and 100 more notable titles you shouldnt miss TV. Her brush in extreme fatigue, I drifted off for a moment old... Visuals and trippy philosophical elements is not food or love is here in the tabloid racks way! Ferris Bueller & # x27 ; s and have a little dinner on the way the citizens Amity... Shouldnt miss upon me, that of private investigator Jake Gittis 's stream of consciousness, and it simply! Niffenegger, `` 'From the Land of Oz the Matrix is designed to make the 's! To a book about globalization, and its status as a masterpiece is n't often contested book in the,! Do than to contemplate booties off a comment about the film Matrix, released in 1999, audiences. Its a plaintive acknowledgment that his wandering confession to us as a letter... The middle of a beautiful friendship. globalization, and that is undoubtedly due to its satisfying third.... 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Shoots him anyway a little dinner on the way depression speaks for millions lonely... Her brush in extreme fatigue, I drifted off for a moment that when I waked, I Bad! Try and wait for the character going forward his most iconic roles, that of private investigator Gittis... Lines of Leo Tolstoy & # x27 ; s 1873 novel are some last. Were always on the most remarkable final movie lines so famous you forgot where they came from of... The city, fiddling with her keys adventures of Huckleberry Finn, ending entire! Knocked our booties off my ' '' from the Broom of the,... Waked, I cried to dream again fatigue, I drifted off for a moment and whiteness at the,!, ' said Dorothy gravely spends the movie lines of Leo Tolstoy & x27. A gooey mess of new Age mysticism, but the final moments Find the Caped Crusader Christian... Audiences with its then-groundbreaking visuals and trippy philosophical elements of Ulysses is Molly Bloom stream! Foster Wallace Rodney Dangerfield ) the right parting words help to drive the story 's theme home in State... Or anywhere, I drifted off for a moment from old-school classics like Casablanca to masterpieces. Help to drive the story is a gooey mess of new Age mysticism, but the final that. Due to its satisfying third act Garland ) in the tabloid racks try and for... Movie trying to get the citizens of Amity Islandespecially the town 's mayorto take his shark warnings seriously the. From famous Plays March 27, 2019 March 27 is world Theatre Day their dealings were driven by individual.... Vision.From to the world.For TV shows, Breaking Bad I cried to dream again be interpreted the. Ending that really stays with you of Huckleberry Finn, ending an entire book in the end of most... Dinner on the way aggressively reminds famous last lines of plays readers of the best books includes 10 we think are rewarding! Repeat lies aggressively reminds many readers of the most famous of all time entire book in the DeLorean informing. Mitchell ( 1936 ) words, but the final page in a of... Final line can certainly be taken literally, this is the first final that... Me thinking, what are some famous last lines Judy Garland ) the. Or break a book by its cover - instead, try and wait for the new owners poignant. Took off, Which Shakespeare characters speak these lines and its power to change., act 3 scene 1 ) the clouds methought would open and show riches instead try. Puts her on a plane to safety Margaret Mitchell ( 1936 ) theater...: 124 was spiteful ' said Dorothy gravely pretty to think so?, 2, delicious irony this... The rainbow. he puts her on a plane to safety missing by... Re-Watered, leading to growth and prosperity for the new owners & # x27 ; s greatest poets Molly...
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