Sermon Illustrations

Some are famous:

Nathan Hale (1755-1776) – "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Romeo – “Here’s to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”

Richard III – "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse."

Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) – "You too, Brutus?"

Some are obvious:

Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (1707-1783) – "I die."

Luther Burbank (1849 – 1926) renowned botanist – "I don’t feel good."

Some are ironic:

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (1883-1939) actor – "Never felt better."

General John Sedgwick (1813-1864) – "They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist--."

Some are quirky:

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1755-1793) – “Pardon me, sir." (on stepping on the foot her exectioner)

John “Doc” Holliday (1851-1887) – "This is funny."

P.T. Barnum – “How were the circus receipts in Madison Square Gardens?”

Pancho Villa (1878-1923) – "Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

Some are humorous:

Robert Erskine Childers (1870-1922) Irish nationalist – "Take a step forward, lads. It will be easier that way."

James Rogers – "Why yes, a bullet proof vest." (When asked, “Any last requests?”)

Conrad N. Hilton (1887-1979) – "Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub."

Saint Lawrence (?-258) – "Turn me. I am roasted on one side."

John Holmes (1812-1899) – "John Rogers did."

Holmes was a U.S. lawyer and brother of O.W. Holmes. Quiet and motionless on deathbed for a long period of time, those assembled in the room suspected that he had died. A nurse checked his pulse, found none, and announced that she would feel his feet to see if they were warm, "If they are, he’s alive. Nobody ever died with warm feet." "John Rogers did," Holmes replied. Rogers was a Prot. martyr who had been burned at the stake.