Literature's best closing lines

[aggle-rithm]

"I have no mouth. And I must scream."

Thanks, I had almost succeeded in blotting the memory of that story from my mind.

 

[RedIbis]

Not a particularly notable last line, but the closing image in Grapes of Wrath (Rose'a'sharn nursing the starving adult retarded guy) is one of the most powerful.

Sorry--pahrful. Forgot to say it in Okie.

And FWIW, I find the opening short chapter (the description of the weather and the people in only general terms) to be some of the best American writing of all time.

I'd put that up there with one of the most haunting and powerful closing images in all of American literature.

 

[albion]

The first one that came to mind.

He yawned: he had finished the day, and he had also finished with his youth. Various well-bred moralities had already discretely offered him their services: disillusioned epicureanism, smiling tolerance, resignation, common sense, stoicism - all the aids whereby a man may savour, minute by minute, like a connoisseur, the failure of a life. He took off his jacket, and began to undo his necktie. He yawned again as he repeated to himself: "It's true, it's absolutely true: I have attained the age of reason."

 

[albion]

Also:

They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late their hapy seat,
Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms:
Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and providence their guide;
They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.

And to counterbalance the rampant religiocity:

She crawled out to the kitchen and pulled herself up, holding onto the edge of the sink, still yelling he was a *edit*, then let cold water run over her head. Her daughter came over to help her and Nancy continued yelling and then the frustration started her crying and her daughter told her not to cry, Jesus loves us Mommy. Nancy told her to get the *edit* away from her. Abraham slept.

While I don't think the second one is beautiful or impressive as a stand alone quote it is a good summation for the book, which is a powerfully disturbing read and leaves you rather shocked and numb at completion.

 

[TheAnachronism]

And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away

Love this. I used to be really into the English romantic poets, but I never read much of either Shelley. This makes me want to go check out a big, musty book and get reading (by candlelight, of course).

Since poetry has been somewhat neglected in this thread, I'll add another that might not be well-known. It's from Schiller's poem "The Veiled Statue at Sais," about a young man who travels to Egypt to study its mysteries. He comes across a tomb with a veiled statue, under which Truth is concealed and which, as his guide explains, all are forbidden to unveil:

He speaks, and, with the word, lifts up the veil.
Would you inquire what form there met his eye?
I know not,--but when day appeared, the priests
Found him extended senseless, pale as death,
Before the pedestal of Isis' statue.
What had been seen and heard by him there
He never would disclose, but from that hour
His happiness in life had fled forever,
And his deep sorrow soon conducted him
To an untimely grave. "Woe to that man,"
He warning said to every questioner,
"Woe to that man who wins the truth by guilt,
For truth so gained will ne'er reward its owner."​

 

[TubbaBlubba]

Another one that I actually remember (not very common). May be a slight paraphrase.


And so he died, a gallant gentleman.

From Dracula.

 

[Wudang]

If we're going with ending of poems then Shakespeare sonnet 73
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

 

[Damien Evans]

He sleeps. Although so much he was denied,
He lived; and when his dear love left him, died.
It happened of itself, in the calm way
That in the evening night-time follows day

Closing lines of Les Miserables, as translated by Norman Denny.

 

[LSSBB]

Last line of "Gonna Roll the Bones", short story by Fritz Leiber especially for Dangerous Visions (Harlan Ellison, Ed.):

Then he turned and headed straight for home, but he took the long way, around the world.