Executed prisoners' last words

The Texas Department of Justice website has executed prisoners' last statements going back to 1982, from which a 9/19 NYT Op-Ed collected some quotations. (Hat tip: Tyler Cowen)

I read through quite a few and I must say, if you are hoping to find some profound statements about the meaning of life, this is not the place to look. Many take the opportunity to apologize, often noting that the word "sorry" does not suffice. Some say they are nervous, some say they are calm. Some say nothing at all. By far most common (at least from the ones I read) was to, ironically, thank God.

To me, the absence of profound statements says something interesting. But I'm not sure what.