# How many first lines from books do you have memorized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382 "2009-11-05T02:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/1 "2009-11-05T02:49:06Z")
There are a couple new biographies out on Ayn Rand. I read both _The Fountainhead_ and _Atlas Shrugged_ when I was a teenager. NPR, Slate, the NY Times…all have featured recent segments about the biographies, and I realized that I have the first lines from each book memorized. “Howard Roark laughed” is the first line of _The Fountainhead_ and “Who is John Galt?” is the first line of _Atlas Shrugged_. Lessee…I also know the first line of _A Tale of Two Cities_. Other than that, none come to mind, although I know if I picked up many more classics I’d definitely recognize them. What’s the first line of _The Catcher in the Rye_? Probably has “crummy” or “phony” in it. I’ve read The Great Gatsby numerous times, but I have no idea what the first line is. I’ll get up and go look…I’ll bet I recognize it. Wow. I totally remember it: “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.” Damn, what a great book. What great advice. Ok. Catcher next: “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” Again, I totally remember that. I could just sit and read books all night. Next to Catcher was _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_. “You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_; but that ain’t no matter.” I made a small bet with myself that I wouldn’t have known that one, but I did. And I only read it once. Years ago. I grabbed one more book…_Trainspotting_. I didn’t remember the line, but I liked it: “The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling.” Do you have any memorized? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/2 "2009-11-05T03:16:29Z")
Only one that I can think of and would swear to at the moment . . . **The Good Earth** : It was Wang Lung’s wedding day. Others that I have a rough idea: **1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone with the Wind, A Prayer for Owen Meany.** ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/3 "2009-11-05T03:19:27Z")
Just one. Catch-22. Only book I know the first and last lines. “It was love at first sight” and “The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/4 "2009-11-05T03:28:17Z")
There’s “Call me Ishmael,” usually considered to be the most memorable first line in American fiction and the first line of Philip Roth’s _The Great American Novel_, “Call me, Ishmael,” the best takeoff in American fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/5 "2009-11-05T03:33:27Z")
Only one. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/6 "2009-11-05T03:36:17Z")
I do know the first phrase of **One Hundred Years of Solitude** , which is really all you need for a great first line: Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, . . . For some reason, the opening to **The Dragonflight** stays with me: Lessa woke, cold. Then there’s John Barth’s **The End of the Road** I am, in a sense, Jacob Horner Samuel R. Delany’s **Dhalgren** . . . to wound the autumnal city. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/7 "2009-11-05T03:36:30Z")
Not many. Call me Ishmael It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In fair Verona, where we…do something or other. In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the earth. Who is John Gault? Europe has been at war for… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/8 "2009-11-05T03:37:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There’s “Call me Ishmael,” usually considered to be the most memorable first line in American fiction and the first line of Philip Roth’s _The Great American Novel_, “Call me, Ishmael,” the best takeoff in American fiction. Wasn’t the first line of Roth’s _The Great American Novel_ “Call me Smitty”? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/9 "2009-11-05T03:38:05Z")
Well certainly _Gatsby_ and _1984_, and also _Pride and Prejudice_ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. and the wonderful start to _Bright Lights, Big City_. You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/10 "2009-11-05T03:38:51Z")
“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.” -HST ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/11 "2009-11-05T03:40:46Z")
Besides the above, the famous first line from Madeleine L’Engle’s _A Wrinkle in Time:_ “It was a dark and stormy night.” ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/12 "2009-11-05T03:40:49Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > Lessee…I also know the first line of _A Tale of Two Cities_. I’m guessing not, unless you have eidetic recall. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/13 "2009-11-05T03:47:08Z")
And, of course, the opening line of Bulwer-Lytton’s _Paul Clifford_ … ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/14 "2009-11-05T03:52:05Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I’m guessing not, unless you have eidetic recall. I mean, it might be of course that you memorized it. I can quote the first line and the rest of the prologue to The Canterbury Tales because Mrs. Gant made me memorize it 28 years ago, the first line being: Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour;. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/15 "2009-11-05T03:52:32Z")
> [@Peanut\_Gallery](#): > > “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.” -HST _dammit_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/16 "2009-11-05T03:54:24Z")
“_It was a bright, cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen_.” If that opening line doesn’t perk up your interest, I don’t know what will. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/17 "2009-11-05T03:57:21Z")
No “Last night I dreamed I went to Manderly”? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/18 "2009-11-05T04:04:42Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > If that opening line doesn’t perk up your interest, I don’t know what will. Well, there is “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.” dammit. At least he forgot the bats. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/19 "2009-11-05T04:14:45Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I’m guessing not, unless you have eidetic recall. > > 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. No wonder that stuff was so hard to read in high school 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382/20 "2009-11-05T04:19:55Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I mean, it might be of course that you memorized it. I can quote the first line and the rest of the prologue to The Canterbury Tales because Mrs. Gant made me memorize it 28 years ago, the first line being: > > Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote > The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, > And bathed every veyne in swich licour > Of which vertu engendred is the flour;. That’s interesting, because Mr. _D_ant made me memorize the whole thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-lines-from-books-do-you-have-memorized/516382.md?page=2)