BEAUTIFUL LAST LINES
The first thing you see is the cover, which you are advised not to judge. The last thing you see -- the last sentence -- begs differently. The last line of a book asks you to experience the whole of what the author wrote and asks you to keep it with you as you travel through life. Last lines hope for immortality.
Beautiful last lines can be tidy summations of a story or they can be unanswered questions, inviting you to draw your own conclusions or perhaps suggesting that that are no final answers at all.
The last line of a book is the author’s last chance to grab another little piece of your heart.
Whether you skip to the last line before you’ve read the whole book or you patiently wait to read it at the end, you seek its power.
We’ve curated some beautiful last lines from books such as Outlander
“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
-- “Charlotte's Web,” by E.B. White.
“When the day shall come that we do part,’ he said softly, and turned to look at me, ‘If my last words are not 'I love you'-ye'll ken it was because I didna have time.”
-- “The Fiery Cross,” (Outlander, Book #5), by Diana Gabaldon.
"As you from crimes would pardon'd be, Let your indulgence set me free."
-- “The Tempest,” by William Shakespeare.
“Yet, what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?”
-- “Cloud Atlas,” by David Mitchell.
"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home."
-- “The Outsiders,” by S.E. Hinton.
“'Darling,' replied Valentine, 'has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words? — 'Wait and hope.”
-- “The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Alexandre Dumas.
“Thomas Edison's last words were: 'It's very beautiful over there.' I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.”
-- “Looking For Alaska,” by John Green.
“After all...tomorrow is another day.”
-- “Gone with the Wind,” by Margaret Mitchell.
“Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
-- “The Sun Also Rises,” by Ernest Hemingway
"But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper."
-- “Memoirs of a Geisha,” by Arthur Golden.
“I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.”
-- “Lolita,” by Vladimir Nabokov.
Read more about Beautiful Books in Wild Wonderful Wales.
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