As the streets that lead from the Strand to the Embankment are very narrow, it is better not to walk down them arm-in-arm.
Printable View
As the streets that lead from the Strand to the Embankment are very narrow, it is better not to walk down them arm-in-arm.
Call Me Ishmael.
(I know, it's crazy to have a favorite first line come from a book I can't stand, but it's simple, and it sticks with you. Perfect! :nod: )
The first/last sentence (depending on how one reads it) of a book that could very well drive me wild with thought:
Finnegans Wake by James JoyceQuote:
Given! A way a lone a last a loved a long the . . . riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basil
I remember doing that for my french A level...Maman est mort...
Anyway, first line - It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. P&P
"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975"
Khaled Hosseini, "The Kite Runner"
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams, the restaurant at the end of the universe
The opening sentence you quote is excellent. Have a look at http://openingsentences.com for some other good ones.
Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...
The Cask of Amontillado is brilliant.:thumbs_upQuote:
Originally Posted by Manfred
I just read H.H. Munro's The Open Window today so...
"My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel," said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; "in the meantime you must try and put up with me."
Perhaps with Notes From The Underground, we can make an exception to 'first sentence' with the choppy, blunt, and brief nature of the book. The first several sentences:
Quote:
I am a sick man, I am an angry man. I am an unattractive man. I think there is something wrong with my liver. But I don't understand the least thing about my illness, and I don't know for certain what part of me is affected. I am not having any treatment fo rit, and never have had, although I have a great respect for medicine and for doctors. I am besides extremely superstitious, if only in having such respect for medicine. I am well educated enough not to be superstitious, but superstitious I am. No, I refuse treatment out of spite. That is something you will probably not understand. Well, I understand it.
"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino can be nauseating at 3 a.m. James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired." adaptation:
"The animal screams and technicolor gore of a torture chamber -- viewed remmotely over a live internet TV hookup -- can be stimulating at 3 AM. George W. Bush was wide awake, unusally :lol: alert."
Quote:
Originally Posted by mono
Somehow those lines bring my mind to Nietzsche's first lines in Why I am So Clever, which I think show a strong sense of self confidence.
Quote:
Why do I know more than other people? Why, in general, am I so clever?
Does anybody know where this opening sentence is from.
I was told it is from How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, but it doesnt seem to check out.
How can it either seem to check out or not check out? It's a book . . . isn't it either there or not there?Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry99
I don't have the book around, but according to a random Internet search, it appears as if the movie version begins with a narrator saying the following words.
"Once, in a snowflake, like the one on your sleeve, there happened a story you must see to believe."
Though I've no idea if that is faithful to the book or not.
Like ShoutGrace, I could not find the next in reference to the Dr. Seuss book How The Grinch Stole Christmas, but I found that it came from the narrator's opening voice in the film adaption:Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry99
Quote:
Once, in a snowflake, like the one on your sleeve, there happened a story you must see to believe.