“All is well that ends well” and the same goes for the end of a book, as an imperfect last line is not what any reader would expect and like to take with them at the end.
So, we collected some of the powerful last lines in the literature that took the storytelling to a different level.
Read our list of best last lines in literature, the final line of great books that gave a perfect ending to the stories, making the books a memorable reading experience.
Related: 30 Best First Lines in Literature
50 Best Closing Lines of Books in Literature
1. East of Eden
By John Steinbeck
“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”
Last line of East of Eden
2. The Great Gatsby
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
Last line of The Great Gatsby
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
By J.K Rowling
“The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.”
Last line of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
4. Gone with the Wind
By Margaret Mitchell
“After all tomorrow is another day.”
Last line of Gone with the wind
5. Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
“She called in her soul to come and see.”
Last line of Their Eyes Were Watching God
6. The Old man and the Sea
By Ernest Hemingway
“The old man was dreaming about the lions.”
Last Line of The Old Man and the Sea
7. Dracula
By Bram Stoker
“Later on he will understand how some men so loved her, that they did dare much for her sake.”
Last line of Dracula
8. Alone in Berlin
By Hans Fallada
“Because it was written that you reap what you saw, and the boy had sown good corn.”
Last line of Alone in Berlin
9.The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak
”I am haunted by humans.”
Last line of The Book Thief
10. Moby Dick
By Herman Melville
“It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracting search after her missing children, only found another orphan.”
Last line of Moby Dick
11. 1984
By George Orwell
“He loved big brother.”
Last line of 1984
12. Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises
By Ernest Hemingway
“Oh, Jack, ”Brett said, ”we could have had such a good time together”…”Yes,” I said. Isn’t it pretty to think so.?”
Last line of The Sun Also Rise
13. Romeo & Juliet
By William Shakespeare
“For never was a story of woe, Then this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
Last line of Romeo and Jouliet
14. Beloved
By Toni Morrison
“Beloved.”
Last line of Beloved
15. Life of Pi
By Yann Martel
“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.”
Last line of Life of Pie
16. Heart of Darkness
By Joseph Conard
“The offering was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the utmost ends of the earth flowered sombre under an overcast sky – seemed to lead the heart of an immense darkness.”
Last line of Heart of Darkness
17. The Catcher in the Rye
By J.D Salinger
“It’s funny. Don’t ever tell anybody anything.If you do, you start missing everybody.”
Last line of The Catcher in the Rye
18. Animal Farm
By George Orwell
“The creature outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
Last line of Animal farm
19. Little Women
By Louisa May Alcott
“Oh, my girl, however long you may live, I never can wish you a great happiness than this.”
Last line of Little Women
20. The Tempest
By William Shakespeare
“As you from crimes would pardon’d be, Let your indulgence set you free.”
Last line of The Tempest
21. Charlotte’s Web
By E.B. White
“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.”
Last line of Charlotte’s Web
22. To Kill a Mockingbird
By Harper Lee
“He turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem walked up in the morning.”
Last line of To Kill a Mockingbird
23. A Tales of Two Cities
By Charles Dickens
“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.”
Last line of A Tale of Two Cities
24. Frankenstein
By Mary Shelley
“He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.”
Last Line of Frankenstein
25. Looking for Alaska
By John Green
“Thomas Edison’s last word were: It’s very beautiful over there. I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope its beautiful.”
Last line of Looking for Alaska
26. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
By Stephen Chbosky
“So if this does end up being my last letter, please believe that things are good with me, and even when they’re not, they will be soon enough. And I will believe the same about you. Love always, Charlie.”
Last line of The Perks of Being a Wallflower
27. Les Misérables
By Victor Hugo
“This stone is entirely blank. 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. No name can be read there.”
Last line of Les Misérables
28. Wuthering Heights
By Emily Bronte
“I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.”
Last line of Wuthering Heights
29. The Road
By Cormac McCarthy
“In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.”
Last line of The Road
30. Gone Girl
By Gillian Flynn
“I don’t have any thing else to add. I just wanted to make sure I had the last words. I think I’ve earned that.”
Last line of Gone Girl
31. Catch-22
By Joseph Heller
“The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.”
Last line of Catch 22
32. Never Let Me Go
By Anthony Doerr
“I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I suppose to be.”
Last lines of Never Let Me Go
33. The Color Purple
By Alice Walker
“But I don’t think us feel old at all. And us so happy. Matter of fact, I think the youngest us ever felt.”
Last line of The Color Purple
34. Sarah key’s
By Tatiana de Rosnay
“We sat there for a long time, till the crowd around us thinned, till the sun shifted and the light changed. Till we felt our eyes could meet again, without the tears.”
Last line of Sarah Key’s
35. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
By L.Frank Baum
“From the LAND OF Oz,’ said Dorothy gravely. ‘And here is Toto, too. And oh, Aunt Em! I’m so glad to be at home again.”
Last line of The Wonderland of Oz
36. Lord of the Files
By William Golding
“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.”
Last line of Lord of Flies
37. Rebecca
By Daphne Du Maurier
“And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.”
Last line of Rebecca
38. The Handmaid’s Tale
By Margaret Atwood
“Are there any questions.”
Last line of The Handmaid’s Tale
39. The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini
“I am with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the valley of Panjsher on my lips. I ran.”
Last line of The Kite Runner
40. Of Mice and Men
By John Steinbeck
“Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, ‘Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”
Last line of Of Mice and Men
41. Middlesex
By Jeffery Eugenides
“I lost track after a while, happy to be home, weeping for my father, and thinking about what was next.”
Last line of Middlesex
42. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
By Mark Twain
“But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before.”
Last line of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
43. The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson
“Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Last line of The Haunting of the Hill House
44. Pride and Prejudice
By Jane Austen
“With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both even sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the person who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.”
Last line of Pride and Prejudice
45. The Dark Tower
By Stephen King
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
Last line of The Dark Tower
46. The Bell Jar
By Sylvia Plath
“The eyes and faces all turned themselves towards me, and guiding myself by them, as by a magical thread, I stepped into the room.”
Last line of The Bell Jar
47. The Outsiders
By S.E Hinton
“When I stepped out in the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.”
Last line of The Outsiders
48. Lolita
By Vladimir Nabokov
“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.”
Last line of Lolita
49. Emma
By Jane Austen
“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.”
Last line of Emma
50. Where the wild things are
By Maurice Sendak
“Max stepped into his private boat and waved goodbye and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him – and it was still hot.”
Last line of Where the Wild Things Are
