This is the last of earth! I am content.

John Quincy Adams’s words are reported as among his last utterances after he collapsed at his desk in the U.S. House of Representatives. On February 21, 1848, while serving as a congressman, Adams suffered a stroke on the House floor and was carried to the Speaker’s Room in the Capitol. He lingered for roughly two days, largely unconscious, and died on February 23, 1848. The line “This is the last of earth! I am content.” is commonly given as a deathbed remark, expressing acceptance at the end of a public life that concluded literally in the midst of congressional service.

The sentence compresses a stoic, almost classical resignation into a final declaration. “The last of earth” frames death as a boundary between the temporal world and whatever may follow, while “I am content” signals composure rather than fear or regret. Coming from a statesman who continued public work into old age, the remark is often read as the satisfaction of having fulfilled duty: life’s public labors are finished, and the speaker meets the end without complaint. Its power lies in its plainness—no argument, no flourish—only a calm acknowledgment that earthly concerns have ended.

“This is the last of earth; I am content.”
“This is the last of earth. I am content.”
“This is the last of earth! I am content!”