Farewell Quotes

(on concluding filming of LOTR:) "Frodo will look more haggard, but not as bad as Gollum. There is a massive transformation, but the journey should have a physical effect on him, which makes sense as I look a lot older than when I started filming. I was 18 then, and it`s appropriate that he looks older, too. And if I`ve done my job right, then you should empathize with him. When it came to the end, I was very emotional. I was heaving, I couldn`t breathe, and the last bits of the movie really wrecked me. They gave each actor his own farewell, when we were back there earlier this year. You`d go on to a sound stage and Peter (director Peter Jackson) would make a speech about each actor and then bring in their sword and a clapperboard. It was completely overwhelming. When it came time for me to give a speech, I was so gone I just couldn`t do it. I now have the ears, the feet, the sword, the Ring, and one of the maps of Middle-Earth. The whole thing has had a massive impact on us. I think Bill (Billy Boyd) and Dom (Dominic Monaghan) and I are thinking about buying a house here (in New Zealand), because we don`t want to lose our connection with the country. It makes most sense to go in on a place because we could use it like a timeshare and then holiday at different times or together. But we`re so lazy and completely hopeless at doing things, so it remains to be seen if it`ll ever happen." (December 11, 2003)

(from his Presidential Farewell Address): I`ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don`t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That`s how I saw it, and see it still.

The WB never treated us well, so we didn`t expect a lot of farewell wishes and flowers or cards.

My Dear Friends, Colleagues and Fans: My physicians have recently told me I may have a neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer`s disease. So ... I wanted to prepare a few words for you now, because when the time comes, I may not be able to. I`ve lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I`ve found purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor there`s no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can`t part with you, which is why I won`t exclude you from this stage in my life. For now, I`m not changing anything. I`ll insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you`ll know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway. I`m neither giving up nor giving in. I believe I`m still the fighter that Dr. King and JFK and Ronald Reagan knew, but it`s a fight I must someday call a draw. I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure. Please feel no sympathy for me. I don`t. I just may be a little less accessible to you, despite my wishes. I also want you to know that I`m grateful beyond measure. My life has been blessed with good fortune. I`m grateful that I was born in America, that cradle of freedom and opportunity, where a kid from the Michigan Northwoods can work hard and make something of his life. I`m grateful for the gift of the greatest words ever written, that let me share with you the infinite scope of the human experience. As an actor, I`m thankful that I`ve lived not one life, but many. Above all, I`m proud of my family ... my wife Lydia, the queen of my heart, my children, Fraser and Holly, and my beloved grandchildren, Jack, Ridley and Charlie. They`re my biggest fans, my toughest critics and my proudest achievement. Through them, I can touch immortality. Finally, I`m confident about the future of America. I believe in you. I know that the future of our country, our culture and our children is in good hands. I know you will continue to meet adversity with strength and resilience, as our ancestors did, and come through with flying colors - the ones on Old Glory. William Shakespeare, at the end of his career, wrote his farewell through the words of Prospero, in The Tempest". It ends like this: `Be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, the cloud-capp`d towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, yea all which it inherit, shall dissolve and, like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.` Thank you, and God bless you, everyone." (9 August 2002)

Farewell to a friend.

It can`t be any simpler: the farewell is going to be on the Champs-Elysees.

It was the biggest mistake of my career. - On A Farewell to Arms (1957)

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

The peculiar fascination which the South held over my imagination and my limited capital decided me in favor of Atlanta University; so about the last of September I bade farewell to the friends and scenes of my boyhood and boarded a train for the South.

On finally deciding to leave the role of James Bond after seven 007 movies: I think it was the interminable farewell tour of the variety artists, you know? You can`t keep on saying that you`re not doing any more and then doing another one. So I just had to say that was it. I had done enough. I mean, for the last three I was getting a little restless. But I had an absolute splendid time doing the Bond films. I played a lot of backgammon, managed to steal a lot of wardrobe, and got well paid. Nothing could beat it! -- Interview with author David Giammarco, "For Your Eyes Only: Behind The Scenes of the James Bond Films"

A friend of mine, now retired, was then a major exec at a major bank, and one of her jobs, the last four years, was the farewell interview.

The return makes one love the farewell.

In the Army of the Shenandoah, you were the First Brigade! In the Army of the Potomac you were the First Brigade! In the Second Corps of this Army, you are the First Brigade! You are the First Brigade in the affections of your general, and I hope by your future deeds and bearing you will be handed down the posterity as the First Brigade in this our Second War of Independence. Farewell!

As the leader of the Catholic Church, the Holy Father planted seeds of hope in the hearts of millions, helping bring entire nations to the table of peace, and delivering them from tyranny. His ministry to the poor and oppressed was an example to us all, and inspired legions to pursue a life of faith and service. It is with heavy hearts that we say farewell to Pope John Paul II, our pilgrim of peace.

Farewell house, and farewell home! / She`s for the Moors, and martyrdom.

Man`s feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell