Great opening lines

oleorezinator · Post by **oleorezinator** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 1:41 pm

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

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:24 pm

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

Ah HA! Yet again the mysterious Flood rears it's head.

Montana · Post by **Montana** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:40 pm

"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...

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:48 pm

Flying Cursor has my choice. . .simple, elegant, connotations beyond the apparent. . ."Call me Ishmael."

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:51 pm

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

Why doesn't anyone ever quote the entire sentence?

"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."

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:58 pm

jsluder wrote:
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
Why doesn't anyone ever quote the entire sentence?

"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."

It was the best of comma splices, it was the worst of comma splices . . . .

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:02 pm

gonzo914 wrote:It was the best of comma splices, it was the worst of comma splices . . . .

... in the superlative degree of comparison only.

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:57 pm

"Just before she sailed, Tilly got a telegram from Robin saying: "Please bring shaving brush and windmill." - from The Mottled Lizard by Elspeth Huxley

And then...

"The body of Anderson Nez lay under a sheet on the gurney, waiting." - from "The First Eagle" by Tony Hillerman

Susan

Ann · Post by **Ann** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:00 pm

LET us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;

T S Eliot

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:12 pm

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=

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.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:46 am

Marley was dead: to begin with. - Chas Dickens

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.

- Chuck Dickens.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 2:14 pm

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

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:06 pm

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

rebl_rn · Post by **rebl_rn** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 9:21 pm

"On Plow Monday, all the chickens died." - Shadowheart, Laura Kinsale

scottielvr · Post by **scottielvr** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:11 pm

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

Oh, hell yeah.

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.