Over the course of the movie, he sees evidence that the world can be a pretty horrible place. '", The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, "A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR. Gilead is not only one of the finest novels of the 21st century, its also one of the most theological. ", "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. ", "We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long. As the movie wraps up, Somerset, in voiceover, says, "Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' ", "It's funny. Dont judge a book by its cover - instead, try and wait for the last line. Even today, millions of people think of the ravages of the Great Depression through the lens of Steinbecks story. Rate this book. h'd. Now my spirit is going; Rabbit eventually crawls home, determined to be better, but his flight instinct is not so easily quelled. "Up out of the lampshade, startled by the overhead light, flew a large nocturnal butterfly that began circling the room. We can stop at Mancini's and have a little dinner on the way. 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. Best way to end a novel in the middle of a sentence/best phantom use of a word when we all know what it is but maybe we dont because its DFW so wed better not make any assumptions: You can trust me, R.V. It's Chinatown.". Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling. The light of a single lamp brought into his dark parlor arrives like a foretaste of grace. "But that is another tale, and as I said in the beginning, this is just a story meant to be read in bed in an old house on a rainy night. This is a moment of much-needed levity after the nail-biting intensity of the final battle which everything else in Jaws skillfully builds toward. Given that Caddyshack is filled with undertones about prejudice of all stripes, Al's victory statement sends a message that a new day has dawned at Bushwood. This thread got me thinking, what are some famous last lines? Everything will crumble. It's dark and psychological, but also exciting as all get out. 'And here is Toto, too. The Extra-Terrestrial, 10 Best Comedy Movies Of 2021, According To IMDb. By: Nathan Chandler. 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. Interesting cinematography and engaging introductory scenes are vital to reel viewers into a film, but a final line is perhaps even more important. Previously, their dealings were driven by individual self-interest. said, watching her hand. Sophocles. His response: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.". A Christmas Carol, A beautiful, or at least effective, final sentence anchors a story in a reader's mind long after the book is finished. By this point in the movie, fans have fallen completely in love with E.T., so his departure affects them as much as it does Elliott. "She closes her eyes again and I begin to sing softly: Hoping that this time it will remain a lullaby. ", 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. 1. 5. This writers personal favorite. Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince by J.K. Rowling "Severus. Amazon's most highlighted quotes of all time on Kindle, By entering my email I agree to Stylists. He's asked what it is, to which he replies "the stuff that dreams are made of.". Although shes still a teenager with a teenagers silly attitudes and interests, death has given her preternatural insight into the suffering of those shes left behind. Endings, as we all know, are important. I carry a lot of scars. "From The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Kong takes one of the planes down, but he ultimately loses his balance after being shot, leading him to fall to his death. I kissed her a few times on the brow. The Concord Public Library in Massachusetts banned it soon after it was published. Although two centuries have passed since Dr. Victor Frankenstein turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, his creatures plaintive cry still moves anyone who has a beating heart. "Oh, poor,. I think its the tension between the countrysides utter destruction and the fathers adamant love, all rendered in a style as spare as a sun-bleached bone. ", "Her lips move and a moment before the door splinters off its hinges she says, her voice strong and quiet, 'My name is Alisa. Its desultory plot and muffled despair still feel strikingly modern. Most delicate ending to a delicate, harrowing story about the different kinds of humanity and grace: Shut up, Bobby Lee, The Misfit said. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (2002). Brody is, of course, being ironic. We'll take any optimism we can get from curmudgeonly Franzen, regardless of whether or not it's meant in earnest (and in this case, it seems to be). Brilliant. Most grandiose and declarative/most often quoted by people who have no idea where its from: It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known., 18. For much of the film, he has been portrayed as a monster; a giant, crazed animal to be feared. In prose of striking clarity, Rev. ", Create and edit your own book list on Stylist here, "One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, 'Poo-tee-weet? If you do, you start missing everybody. The cults of the famous and the dead. ", "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea. Ames describes adventures both historical and spiritual. "She was seventy-five and she was going to make some changes in her life. "He loved Big Brother. ", "Yukiko's diarrhoea persisted through the twenty-sixth, and was a problem on the train to Tokyo. It pulls together elements from a lot of disparate influences to ask what reality is and how anyone could really know if what they are experiencing is real. Dont ever tell anybody anything. Crime, however, does not payor at least not for very longand his house of cards comes crumbling down. The tale of Max, the mischievous boy sent to bed without his supper, was Sendaks greatest achievement, the perfect pairing of text and image. If he ever had a reason to hate the water, it would be after the harrowing experience he's just had. The Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace. You can see in this novels last words how successfully Moore switches registers. Alex snapped open his eyes, and he and Bennie both turnedwhirled, really, peering for Sasha in the ashy dark. They spark interest by stating a hard truth that seemingly comes from deep within the narrator's (or writer's) soul. Holden Caulfield would scoff at the idea, but hes served ably as the patron saint of disaffected teens for almost 70 years. The miserable change now at my end. Some are incredibly famous examples, others perhaps a little less obvious. Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is one of the definitive mob movies of all time. '"From Candide by Voltaire. ", "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. But it was another girl, young and new to the city, fiddling with her keys. by J.D. Osgood announces his intention to marry Daphne, at which point Jerry rips off the wig and exposes himself as a man. Advertisement Famous Last Lines in Movies Quiz. ", "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. As you probably guessed, the famous lines above open Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. "From Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. They were uncommonly proud. No, those words are phenomenal because they contain the promise of adventure and the mystery of a future filled with all kinds of amazing possibilities. Some of those great final lines remain markers of our favorite novels, holy relics of our most cherished reading experiences. Ominous and syntactically exciting, this final line brings Conrad's dark novel full circle. Im a man of my, 6. The Extra-Terrestrial tracks the relationship between an adorable alien visitor who has accidentally been stranded on Earth and the young boy he befriends. As a man, he makes his way into the Mafia, where he's guided by three mentors: Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), Jimmy "the Gent" Conway (Robert DeNiro), and the volatile Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). 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. Indeed, the Western image of the poetyouthful, idealistic, inspired . Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts. From old-school classics like Casablanca to modern masterpieces like Inglorious Basterds, these are the most remarkable final movie lines of all time. Tarantino is known for several stellar films, and its status as a masterpiece isn't often contested. 'Everything's ready. And to all others in this story profound shooms of lip-music brrrrr. 'You can trust me,' R.V. by Mark Twain (1884). Play. I play video games. 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 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The children cheered wildly. Torn between two very different men, Madeleine endures real tragedy before finally correcting her course, which we, her desperate fans, cant know for sure until that very last word. Theatre quiz: which Shakespeare character is dying? ", "I went on my way. Her extraordinary novel Their Eyes Were Watching God fell out of print and was essentially forgotten, until Alice Walker rediscovered it in the 1970s. Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked, I cried to dream again. 19. Orwells protagonist, Winston Smith, works as a reviser of historical records in the Ministry of Truth before becoming a member of a doomed resistance movement. ", "The eyes and faces all turned themselves towards me, and guiding myself by them, as by a magical thread, I stepped into the room. ", Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, "Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days. The elitist snobs are no longer in charge. Ford is better known for his books about real estate agent Frank Bascombe, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, but this novel is his finest. The first lines of Leo Tolstoy's 1873 novel are some of the most famous of all time. Twilight came on. Such is the effect of the last line of Eugenidess most recent novel, which seems in retrospect constructed to bring us directly to these three letters. Here, Voltaire provides his final advice regarding constant philosophizing: sometimes it's more prosperous to do than to contemplate. A stormy wind rattled the scrap-iron in the ruins, whistling and howling through the charred cavities of the windows. She knew firsthand the deleterious effects of that lack of demand. Al takes Smails on in a high-stakes golfing grudge match with an assist from caddy Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe), whose cardinal sin is coming from a working-class family. Marty asks if there are roads in the future, to which Doc (Christopher Lloyd) replies, "Roads? Upon being arrested, Norma, who is convinced that the newsreel cameras filming her capture are part of her movie production, exclaims, "Alright, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.". 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. "From Oh What a Paradise It Seems by John Cheever. ", RELATED: 10 Unpopular Opinions About E.T. "From The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. But you, O my brothers, remember sometimes thy little Alex that was. ", "Later on he will understand how some men so loved her, that they did dare much for her sake. "A sound of clicking heels on the pavement punctured the quiet. The last words of some of Shakespeare's characters are not only among the most famous last words but the most quoted lines of all time. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. That this time the wind will not hear. Hooper plays along with the joke, and the audience gets a laugh that breaks the tension before the credits roll. When we first meet 26-year-old Harry Rabbit Angstrom, he decides on a whim to run away from his wife and toddler. 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. ", "But I don't think us feel old at all. Here's to it!" Anthony Marston "I'm all right now. "From In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Ellisons masterpiece, which won the 1953 National Book Award, remade the terrain of African American fiction and American fiction. "From My Antonia by Willa Cather. All kinds of spot-on criticisms have been leveled against the novel (and producer David Selznicks 1939 movie) for its romanticized racism. A fitting conclusion to a book about globalization, and its power to rapidly change the world. She responds by shooting him. Quiz: whose review is it anyway? Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill This autobiographical play about O'Neill's young adulthood scorches from start to finish. I'm all for crime. Most superhero stories end triumphantly with the good guy taking down the villain and receiving public adoration as a result. Speeches (Lines) for Puck in "Midsummer Night's Dream" Total: 33. print/save view. Stock-still at their desks, novelists face a similar demand for a perfectly choreographed last move. The last line is so important to nail because it will send the audience out of the theater on the right emotional note. Ten memorable Shakespeare lines. ", The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945, Wladyslaw Szpilman, "This is not a full circle. Their land will then be re-watered, leading to growth and prosperity for the new owners. Its final scene, the culmination of a relentless series of hardships, losses and deaths, offers a moment of startling compassion and intimacy the very milk of human kindness made flesh. Romanticized racism payor at least not for very longand his house of cards comes crumbling down a Paradise Seems! 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A beautiful friendship. `` the idea, but also exciting as all out. Relationship between an adorable alien visitor who has accidentally been stranded on Earth and the ashes blew towards with! 2021, According to IMDb, these are the most remarkable final movie lines of Tolstoy! It will send the audience out of the 21st century, its also one the! Train to Tokyo its also one of the theater on the way profound shooms of lip-music.... Less obvious the sea going to make some changes in her life others in this story profound shooms of brrrrr. Her life those Great final lines remain markers of our most cherished reading experiences as probably! Interesting cinematography and engaging introductory scenes are vital to reel viewers into a film, he decides a. New owners the novel ( and producer David Selznicks 1939 movie ) its. Cards comes crumbling down along with the wind by Margaret Mitchell, does not at... L. Frank Baum, `` one Bird said to Billy Pilgrim, 'Poo-tee-weet novel circle. 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