Opening Lines
A good opening line, or incipit, for a book is highly desirable.
Some are so well-known that they are remembered long after the book,
while others are so famous they end up parodied.
Marley was dead, to begin with.
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
On an exceptionally hot evening in early July a young man
came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place
and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, toward K. bridge.
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Count Number 3
and waited for justice; vengence on the men who had
so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.
The Godfather, Mario Puzo
My father's family name being Pirrip and my Christian name Philip,
my infant tongue could make both names nothing longer
or more explicit that Pip.
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor
without a flutter of sails, and was at rest.
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming,
he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
All children, except one, grow up.
Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem
got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Like the brief doomed flare of exploding suns that registers briefly
on blind men's eyes, the beginning of the horror passed almost
unnoticed; in the shriek of what followed, in fact, was forgotten
and perhaps not connected to the horror at all.
The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty
All happy families are alike;
each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
His name was Gall Dornick and he was just a country boy
who had never seen Trantor before.
Foundation, Isaac Asimov
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.
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll 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.
The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
The boy with fair hair lowered myself down the last few feet of rock
and began to pick his way towards the lagoon.
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me
some advice I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains
of western Kansas, a lonesome area
that other Kansans call "out there".
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in
close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green.
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure
when sunset came, and sometimes they were
in the streets before he could get back.
I am Legend, Richard Matheson
It was a pleasure to burn.
Fahrenheight 451, Ray Bradbury
It was a bright cold day in April
and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
All this happened, more or less.
Slaughter-house Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Far out in the uncharted backwaters
of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm
of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
It was the best to 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 ...
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Call me Ishmael.
Moby D*ck, Herman Melville
Opening Lines 
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