# Great first and last lines from various works

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-first-and-last-lines-from-various-works/386273>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 1, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-first-and-last-lines-from-various-works/386273 "2007-01-01T05:10:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Schuyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Schuyler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schuyler)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-first-and-last-lines-from-various-works/386273/61 "2007-01-05T05:59:47Z")

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These sound so pedestrian compared to some of the great quotes listed above, but anyway.

beginning line:

> [@](#):
>
> Listen:  
> Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.

ending line:

> [@](#):
>
> One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, _“Poo-tee-weet?”_

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

beginning lines:

> [@](#):
>
> They didn’t say anything about this in the books, I thought, as the snow blew in through the gaping doorway and settled on my naked back.  
> I lay face down on the cobbled floor in a pool of nameless muck, my arm deep inside the straining cow, my feet scrabbling for a toe hold betwen the stones.

All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot

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**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-first-and-last-lines-from-various-works/386273/62 "2007-01-05T09:41:29Z")

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My favourite opening line:

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.” from Iain Banks, **The Crow Road**

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