The Great Opening Line(s) Thread

[grapevine]

Inspired by the Great Quotes Thread, there are some great opening lines out there, which grab the reader's attention and imagination from the get-go.

Just to whet the appetite, here are a few - some famous, some not so much . . .

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

"They shoot the white girl first, but the rest they can take their time. No need to hurry out here. They are 17 miles from a town which has 90 miles between it and any other. Hiding places will be plentiful in the convent, but there is time, and the day has just begun. They are nine. Over twice the number of the women, they are obliged to stampede or kill, and they have the paraphernalia for either requirement--rope, a palm leaf cross, handcuffs, mace, and sunglasses, along with clean, handsome guns.”

Paradise by Toni Morrison

"There's a guy like me in every state and federal prison in America I guess - I'm the guy who can get it for you."

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

[Bill Ryan]

"Maman died today. Or yesterday, maybe. I don't know."

The Stranger, by Albert Camus

[jaybee]

~

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.'


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A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens. The plot centres on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. Set in London and Paris, it tells the story of two men, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look similar but are very different in traits.

source (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities#Chapter_I_-_The_Period)

[Satori]

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

The Declaration of Independence. John Hancock et al.

[grapevine]

"I was set down from the carrier's cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began".

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

[Mike Gorman]

~

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.'


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens. The plot centres on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. Set in London and Paris, it tells the story of two men, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look similar but are very different in traits.

source (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities#Chapter_I_-_The_Period)

Interesting that you present this one, last Saturday night I had a wonderful couple of hours watching the old film of this story with Dirk Bogarde playing the legal jackal who sacrifices his life to save the French nobleman who marries the love of his life...it has that wonderful ending statement: '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." Cheers, I can recommend this old film, it is on YouTube, free to watch, they don't make them like that anymore.

[leavesoftrees]

He was struggling in every direction, he was the centre of the writhing and kicking knot of his own body. There was no up or down, no light and no air. He felt his mouth open of itself and the shrieked word burst out.
"Help!"

Pincher Martin by William Golding

[Mari]

'In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit'

The Hobbit
JRR Tolkein

[grapevine]

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger

[Bill Ryan]

I can see by my watch, without taking my hand from the left grip of the cycle, that it is eight-thirty in the morning. The wind, even at sixty miles an hour, is warm and humid. When it’s this hot and muggy at eight-thirty, I’m wondering what it’s going to be like in the afternoon.


Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

One of the most sublime and arresting first lines I've ever read.

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

1984, George Orwell.

[42]

“The small boys came early to the hanging.”

Pillars Of The Earth - Ken Follet