# Favorite opening lines in fiction. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070 "2005-05-09T15:52:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/81 "2005-05-13T22:51:18Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > “There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that comes down through the mountain passes and curls your hair and makes your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husband’s necks.” > > Okay, more than one line, from _Red Wind_ by Raymond Chandler That’s the one I immediately thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/82 "2005-05-13T23:22:18Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > Or we have Pratchett by himself, in _Lords and Ladies_: > “In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.” I’ve yet to read that one, but I readily concede. Methinks it’s time to hit Amazon. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/83 "2005-05-13T23:48:55Z")
In the beginning… (someone had to) 😛 I was trapped in a house with a lawyer, a bare-breasted woman and a dead man. The rattlesnake in the paper bag only complicated matters. - _Fat Tuesday_ by Earl Emerson This is the story of Achilles’ rage. - _The Iliad_ by Homer ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/84 "2005-05-14T02:44:45Z")
“He was born with the gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad.” - _Scaramouche_ by Raphael Sabatini ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/85 "2005-05-14T03:14:14Z")
“Scarlet O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when captured by her charms as were the Tarleton twins.” That’s one of the first that comes to mind. I also concur with the opening line to **Rebecca**. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/86 "2005-05-14T04:34:43Z")
Since all mine were mentioned, here’s one from an unlikely source: “She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree.” From “The Customer is Always Right”, a **Sin City** short by Frank Miller. Also the first line of the movie. And since HHGTG was already done, let’s not forget the opening line from _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_: "The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." ---
**Author:** ![VampyChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5daacb/32.png) [@VampyChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VampyChick)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/87 "2005-05-14T05:44:23Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > This is the story of Achilles’ rage. - _The Iliad_ by Homer Well, that one varies widely with translation. I think the most common variation is, “Rage! Sing it, Goddess, the rage of Achilles.” Personally, my favorite has always been, “Sing, Goddess, of the rage of Achilles.” ---
**Author:** ![empty\_filing\_cabinet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@empty\_filing\_cabinet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/empty_filing_cabinet)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/88 "2005-05-14T06:07:44Z")
“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.” A Bend in the River, V.S. Naipaul ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/89 "2005-05-14T16:07:43Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > It’s also the first line of _A Wrinkle In Time_. Drat. But Seriously I freaked when I read it. I was like SO THERE IS A BOOK THAT STARTS OUT WITH THAT!!! ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/90 "2005-05-14T17:20:29Z")
The first that sprung to mind was this one: **"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York."** From The Bell Jar by _Sylvia Plaith_ ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/91 "2005-05-14T21:20:00Z")
" When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere. " The Day Of The Triffids. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/92 "2005-05-14T21:33:37Z")
**"The day I met George was the worst day of my life."** \*Night Fall \* by Joan Aiken. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/93 "2005-05-14T21:39:48Z")
In one of his books Max Shulman speaks about the importance of the opening line of a story, and he suggests: “Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four shots ripped through my groin, and I was off on the greatest adventure of my life! But first, let me tell you a little about myself.” ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/94 "2005-05-15T00:02:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe it comes from living in San Francisco, city of clammy humors and foghorns that warn and warn – omen, o-o-men, o dolorous omen, o dolors of omens – and not enough sun, but Wittman Ah Sing considered suicide every day. from Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book by Maxine Hong Kingston ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/95 "2005-05-15T01:07:56Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > “In five years the penis will be obsolete,” said the salesman. > > John Varley, Steel Beach This is the one I was going to say. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/96 "2005-05-15T02:39:04Z")
“Because I was the darkest of the children it was always understood that I would recieve the most education and would rise highest in the state.” The Day of the Drones by A. M. LIghtner ---
**Author:** ![aurelian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/97 "2005-05-15T05:03:03Z")
Oh yay, this one hasn’t been mentioned yet… \ As the corpse went past the flies left the restaurant table in a cloud and rushed after it, but they came back a few minutes later. George Orwell, [“Marrakech”](http://www.george-orwell.org/Marrakech/0.html) ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/98 "2005-05-15T13:21:52Z")
“One may as well begin with Helen’s letters to her sister.” – Howard’s End by E.M.Forster. I love the way it implies that stories may start in many places. “We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody dropped the girl off the bridge.” --Darker Than Amber by John D. MacDonald, my personal favorite of his Travis McGee series. (The second line is: “They came to a yelping stop overhead, out of sight, dumped her over the bridge rail and took off.” Dare you to stop reading!) ---
**Author:** ![aurelian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/99 "2005-05-15T13:22:16Z")
OK, always read thread title before posting… FICTION! Doh! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070/100 "2005-05-15T18:15:11Z")
“When August came out on the porch, the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake - not a very big one. It had probably just been crawling around looking for shade when it ran into the pigs. They were having a fine tug-of-war with it and its rattling days were over.” Larry McMurtry, “Lonesome Dove” If you haven’t read this book, do yourself a favor and read it during your summer vacation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-opening-lines-in-fiction/303070.md?page=6)