# Famous First Words **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 1, 2000, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588 "2000-02-01T08:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/61 "2000-02-02T02:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > _David Copperfield_ by Dickens (ooh, or is it _Great Expectations_? I could check, but that would be cheating…). It is indeed _David Copperfield_. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/62 "2000-02-02T03:01:00Z")
YH3) This time, there would be no witnesses. _Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency_ Pop quiz on the first line from Catch-22: who was Yossarian in love with from first sight? The chaplain, of course. (And no, I didn’t peek.) * * * I think apathy, depression, irony, and confusion are damned fine ways to view a world going to hell. – Cynthia Heimel ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/63 "2000-02-02T03:07:00Z")
OK, here’s mine: DA1) He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. DA2) “What’s it going to be, then, eh?” DA3) It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future. DA4) Let’s set the existence-of-God issue aside for a later volume, and just stipulate that in _some_ way, self-replicating organisms came into existence on this planet and immediately began trying to get rid of each other, either by spamming their environments with rough copies of themselves, or by more direct means which hardly need to be belabored. (Actually from the first chapter after a short “Prologue”) DA5) “In five years, the penis will be obsolete,” said the salesman. (I don’t seriously expect anyone to get this one, but it is probably my favorite opening line,so I must include it.) Quick hint: in my day job, I edit science fiction. * * * …but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans! ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/64 "2000-02-02T03:12:00Z")
Here are a few that I know: “Christmas won’t be Christmas without presents” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. “It was a dark and stormy night.” (This is a well known children’s book—not Snoopy’s novel) “To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.” “Hapscomb’s Texaco sat on Number 93 just north of Arnette, a pissant four-street burg about 110 miles from Houston.” * * * –Gail “Predictable, really I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place.” --John Cleese ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/65 "2000-02-02T03:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Gail: > “Hapscomb’s Texaco sat on Number 93 just north of Arnette, a pissant four-street burg about 110 miles from Houston.” > > \*\* The Stand (Big Steve King) Here’s a tricky one: I arrived in the truck very early in the morning. I had been driving all night, for I hadn’t been able to sleep at the motel so I thought I might as well drive and I arrived among the mountains and hills near [deleted] and [deleted] just as the sun came up and I was glad I had kept busy with driving. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/66 "2000-02-02T03:32:00Z")
Gail: Is the first one _Little Women_? I knew the second one was from _The Stand,_ too, but AuntiePam beat me too it. Now here’s mine: C1: Midway along the journey of our life, I woke to find myself in some dark woods, for I had wandered off from the straight path. * * * “The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his ribcage.” --anonymous redhead ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/67 "2000-02-02T03:36:00Z")
[QUOTE] Originally posted by Cristi: \*\*Gail: Is the first one _Little Women_? I knew the second one was from _The Stand,_ too, but AuntiePam beat me too it. Right and Right. * * * –Gail “Predictable, really I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place.” --John Cleese ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/68 "2000-02-02T03:43:00Z")
Cristi: > [@](#): > > C1: Midway along the journey of our life, I woke to find myself in some dark woods, for I had wandered off from the straight path. ## Is that _Pilgrim’s Progress_ by John (I alwasy want to write “Paul”) Bunyan? …but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/69 "2000-02-02T03:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Gail: > “To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.” Grapes of Wrath – this is fun! I am deeply ashamed that I appear to have so few “classics” in my bookshelves. Try this: P-1 On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/70 "2000-02-02T04:00:00Z")
Da Ace: No. 🙂 * * * “The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his ribcage.” --anonymous redhead ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/71 "2000-02-02T04:41:00Z")
Da Ace posted: > [@](#): > > DA1) He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. Alfred Bester, _The Stars My Destination_. Gail wrote: > [@](#): > > “It was a dark and stormy night.” Madeleine L’Engle, _A Wrinkle In Time_. BONUS: The opening line “It was a dark and stormy night” FIRST appeared in _Paul Clifford_ by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1830. And all mine have been answered correctly. 🙂 – Sylence * * * If a bird doesn’t sing, I’ll wait until it sings. - Tokugawa Ieyasu ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/72 "2000-02-02T04:52:00Z")
Somebody already answered the ones I know, so I’ll just contribute my favorite opening line ever. I don’t have the book handy, I don’t remember the exact phrasing, and I don’t really expect anyone to get this anyway, but it goes a little something like this: NTG1: Walking up the walls was hard. Walking up the ceiling was proving to be impossible. * * * An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/73 "2000-02-02T04:56:00Z")
More from me! T3: ‘There was a wall.’ (I’ll give the next few sentences if asked, but, ‘The primroses were over.’ was enough, so I think this is fine.) T4 (Might be a bit of a gimme): ‘The Time Traveller (for so it will be convinient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.’ ## T5: ‘Lije Bailey had just reached his desk when he became aware od R. Sammy watching him expectantly.’ _Eschew Obfuscation_ ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/74 "2000-02-02T05:04:00Z")
T5: \*The Caves of Steel[\i], I think. One of Asimov’s Elijah Bailey novels. The other one I can think of is \*Robots of Dawn[\i]. p.s. to whomever was guessing \*Pilgrim’s Progress[\i]. It was already used in the OP. Sorry but I can’t get back to the thread to find your name! ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/75 "2000-02-02T05:13:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by pluto: > \*\*T5: _The Caves of Steel[\i], I think. One of Asimov’s Elijah Bailey novels. The other one I can think of is Robots of Dawn[\i]._ Bingo. Caves if Steel it is. The only Lije Bailey novel I’ve been able to find. (Blah!) * * * _Eschew Obfuscation_ ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/76 "2000-02-02T05:14:00Z")
A couple from my kids’ bedroom: P9: “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” P10: “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” P11: “Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tidewater dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego.” * * * “pluto … a seriously demented but oddly addictive presence here.” – TVeblen ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/77 "2000-02-02T05:18:00Z")
P4- The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells. I _think_. ## P9- To Kill a Mockingbird, by what’s-her-name. Dammit, I forgot. It’s right at the tip of my brain… Grrrrr. An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/78 "2000-02-02T05:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Tengu: > **The only Lije Bailey novel I’ve been able to find. (Blah!)** The title of the other was “The Naked Sun”. Lije Bailey also appears with R. Daneel in a short story, “Mirror Image”. And of course his influence is felt throughout the later Foundation novels. It occurs to me that your second one might be H. G. Wells “The Time Machine”. ---
**Author:** ![dekayx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@dekayx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dekayx)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/79 "2000-02-02T05:20:00Z")
sorry I couldn’t get in on this earlier…it is one of my favorite games: my favorite book - When my brother Jem was nearly thirteen he got his arm badly broken at the elbow. an easy one - Who is John Galt? A recent classic - He was a big fellow, looking seriously pale on the streets of Harlem in deep summer. (you are good if you know that one) teen angst - When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/80 "2000-02-02T05:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by neuro-trash grrrl: > **P9- To Kill a Mockingbird, by what’s-her-name. Dammit, I forgot. It’s right at the tip of my brain… Grrrrr.** Even though you beat me on The Time Machine I’ll still tell you. Harper Lee. Now doesn’t that feel better? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588.md?page=5)