Great opening lines
- oleorezinator
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The one who saw all [Sha nagba imuru ]I will declare to the world,
The one who knew all I will tell about
[line missing]
He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden:
He recovered the knowledge of all the times before the Flood.
He journeyed beyond the distant, he journeyed beyond exhaustion,
And then carved his story on stone
The one who knew all I will tell about
[line missing]
He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden:
He recovered the knowledge of all the times before the Flood.
He journeyed beyond the distant, he journeyed beyond exhaustion,
And then carved his story on stone
Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love.
Love is not music. Music is the best.
- Frank Zappa
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love.
Love is not music. Music is the best.
- Frank Zappa
- Flyingcursor
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Ah HA! Yet again the mysterious Flood rears it's head.oleorezinator wrote:The one who saw all [Sha nagba imuru ]I will declare to the world,
The one who knew all I will tell about
[line missing]
He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden:
He recovered the knowledge of all the times before the Flood.
He journeyed beyond the distant, he journeyed beyond exhaustion,
And then carved his story on stone
I'm no longer trying a new posting paradigm
- Montana
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"This is a tale of a meeting of two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast." - Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions
"Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John." - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
Can you tell I have a penchant for a particular author? Okay, and now for something completely different:
"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...." - Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
I mean, he pretty much said it all in the first sentence...
"Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John." - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
Can you tell I have a penchant for a particular author? Okay, and now for something completely different:
"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...." - Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
I mean, he pretty much said it all in the first sentence...
Why doesn't anyone ever quote the entire sentence?Montana wrote:"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...." - Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
"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."
Giles: "We few, we happy few."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
- gonzo914
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It was the best of comma splices, it was the worst of comma splices . . . .jsluder wrote:Why doesn't anyone ever quote the entire sentence?Montana wrote:"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...." - Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
"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."
Crazy for the blue white and red
Crazy for the blue white and red
And yellow fringe
Crazy for the blue white red and yellow
Crazy for the blue white and red
And yellow fringe
Crazy for the blue white red and yellow
- s1m0n
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Ha! I am nothing if not predictable. I went googling my second fave opening line, to make sure I had it correctly, when what did I find by this post by yours truly,
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... highlight=
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... highlight=
Ah, Zelazny. He coulda been one of the greatest.
The opening paragraph of The doors of his face, the lamps of his mouth was the finest short story beginning in all of science fiction, until Bill Gibson's vivid "The sky was the colour of a television set tuned between stations.." which begins either the story Burning Chrome or another story in the collection by the same name.
Creatures of light.., Lord of Light and the stories Zelazny published during the sixties are some of the best-written SF ever published, IMO.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
- Flyingcursor
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- TonyHiggins
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Not an opening book line, but printed on a souvenier map of Ireland, a chieftain, when asked why he didn't speak English, responded (in Irish, obviously), "I wouldn't condescend to writhe my mouth in chattering English."
Tony
Tony
http://tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/newspage.htm Officially, the government uses the term “flap,” describing it as “a condition, a situation or a state of being, of a group of persons, characterized by an advanced degree of confusion that has not quite reached panic proportions.”
- Innocent Bystander
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Il y avait à Monmatre, au troisième étage du 75 bis de la rue d’Orchampt, un excellent homme nommé Dutilleul qui possédait le don singulier de passer à travers les murs sans en être incommode.
[In Monmartre, on the third floor of 75B Rue Orchampt, there lived a fine man named Dutilleul who possessed the unique ability to walk through walls without being inconvenienced by them. ]
– Le Passe-Muraille - Marcel Aymé
I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia.
Labyrinths (Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius) - Jorge Luis Borges
To begin at the beginning:
It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black,
the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courtiers’-and rabbits’ wood limping invisible
down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.
Under Milk Wood – Dylan Thomas
[In Monmartre, on the third floor of 75B Rue Orchampt, there lived a fine man named Dutilleul who possessed the unique ability to walk through walls without being inconvenienced by them. ]
– Le Passe-Muraille - Marcel Aymé
I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia.
Labyrinths (Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius) - Jorge Luis Borges
To begin at the beginning:
It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black,
the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courtiers’-and rabbits’ wood limping invisible
down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.
Under Milk Wood – Dylan Thomas
- rebl_rn
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"On Plow Monday, all the chickens died." - Shadowheart, Laura Kinsale
Wash your hands. Cough and sneeze in your sleeve. Stay home if you are sick. Stay informed. http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu for more info.
- scottielvr
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Oh, hell yeah.Innocent Bystander wrote: ....
To begin at the beginning:
It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black,
the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courtiers’-and rabbits’ wood limping invisible
down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.
Under Milk Wood – Dylan Thomas
If you haven't had a chance to read (or hear) Under Milk Wood, here is a link to this "play for voices", with embedded audio of Thomas himself reading. It's best to just darken the room, sit back, close your eyes, and listen. There is nothing like it in the whole, wide world.
--Now back to the quotes.