Quotes of the Week - March 16, 2010:
"Listen, he's a nice person, but he couldn't sell watermelons if
you gave him the state troopers to flag down traffic." -- Former
CBS newsd anchor Dan Rather on Barack Obama.
"A ban on eating would show China has reached a new level of civilization."
--Chinese professor Chang Jiwen on China considering making the eating
cats and dogs illegal.
"We used to hustle on over the border for health care...And I think,
isn't that kind of ironic now." -- Sarah Palin, former governer
of Alaska, admits her family used to go to Canada for medical treatment
when she was a child. Canada has a single-payer system, which Palin
opposes.
Topic: First Lines of Novels, Famous
First Lines from Novels, Best Opening Lines from Famous Novels
I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. Notes from Underground (1864), Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign
of the terrible lizards had long since ended. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Arthur C. Clarke
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found
himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. The Metamorphosis (1915), Franz Kafka
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 (1979), Douglas
Adams
Dr Iannis had enjoyed a satisfactory day in which none of his
patients had died or got any worse. Corelli's Mandolin (1993), Louis de Bernieres
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister
on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she
had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had
no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of
a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Lewis
Carroll
In a village of La Mancha the name of which have no desire to
recall, there lived not so long ago one of those gentlemen who
always have a lance in the rack, an ancient buckler, a skinny
nag, and a greyhound for the chase. Don Quixote (1605), Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes
Saavedra)
I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good
Family, tho' not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner
of Bremen, who settled first at Hull; He got a good Estate by
Merchandise, and leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York,
from whence he had married my Mother, whose Relations were named
Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom
I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual Corruption
of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call our selves,
and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call'd
me. Robinson Crusoe (1719), Daniel Defoe
My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name
Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer
or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came
to be called Pip. Great Expectations (1860-1861), Charles Dickens
On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came
out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked
slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge. Crime and Punishment (1866), Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. Rebecca (1938), Daphne du Maurier
James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the
final departure lounge of Miami Airport and though about life
and death. Goldfinger (1959), Ian Fleming
It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the
chaplain he fell madly in love with him. Catch-22 (1961), Joseph Heller
It is this day three hundred and forty-eight years six months
and nineteen days that the good people of Paris were awakened
by a grand pealing from all the bells in the three districts
of the Cite, the Universite, and the Ville. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831), Victor Hugo
A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the
main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING
CENTRE, and in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY,
IDENTITY, STABILITY. Brave New World (1932), Aldous Huxley
Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan,
Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened
to them when they were sent away from London during the war
because of the air-raids. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), C.S.
Lewis
Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump,
on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. Winnie the Pooh (1926), A.A. Milne
On they went, singing 'Eternal Memory', and whenever they stopped,
the sound of their feet, the horses and the gusts of wind seemed
to carry on their singing. Doctor Zhivago (1957), Boris Pasternak
It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted
the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. The Bell Jar (1963), Sylvia Plath
Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names
were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), Beatrix Potter
I began this disorderly and almost endless collection of scattered
thoughts and observations in order to gratify a good mother
who knows how to think. Emile (1762), Jean-Jacques Rousseau
In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered
by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest,
covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys
which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster. Ivanhoe (1819), Sir Walter Scott
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the
commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such
evil forebodings. Frankenstein (1818), Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty,
wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor
yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on
or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. The Hobbit (1937), J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald
Reuel Tolkien)
Over the weekend the vultures got into the presidential palace
by pecking through the screens on the balcony windows and the
flapping of their wings stirred up the stagnant time inside,
and at dawn on Monday the city awoke out of its lethargy of
centuries with the warm, soft breeze of a great man dead and
rotting grandeur. The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), Gabriel Garcia
Marquez
Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates
of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don't tell me that
this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and
horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist - I really believe he
is Antichrist - I will have nothing more to do with you and
you are no longer my friend, no longer my 'faithful slave,'
as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened
you - sit down and tell me all the news. War and Peace (1869), Leo Tolstoy (Count Lev Tolstoi)
"Well, Piotr, not in sight yet?" was the question
asked on May the 20th, 1859, by a gentleman of a little over
forty, in a dusty coat and checked trousers, who came out without
his hat on to the low steps of the posting station at S-----.
He was addressing his servant, a chubby young fellow, with whitish
down on his chin, and little, lack-lustre eyes. Fathers and Sons (1862), Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev
The year 1866 was signalized by a remarkable incident, a mysterious
and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet
forgotten. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870),
Jules Verne
The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of
him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. The Time Machine (1895), H.G. Wells
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud
to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything
strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such
nonsense. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone or Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997), J.K. Rowling
It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded
him of the fate of unrequited love. Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), Gabriel Garcia
Marquez
It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass
in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears' house. Its
eyes were closed. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
(2003), Mark Haddon
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable
home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best
blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years
in the world with very little to distress or vex her. Emma (1816), Jane Austin
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 (1939), John Steinbeck
Harry Potter was a very unusual boy in many ways. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999),
J.K. Rowling
Mr Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings,
save upon those not infrequent occasions when he stayed up all
night, was seated at the breakfast table. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-1902), Arthur
Conan Doyle
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. Jane Eyre (1847), Charlotte Bronte
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,"
grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. Little Women (1868), Louisa May Alcott
I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them,
as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what
they were about when they begot me; had they duly considered
how much depended upon what they were then doing; - that not
only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it,
but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his
body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind; - and,
for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his
whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions
which were then uppermost: - Had they duly weighed and considered
all this, and proceeded accordingly, - I am verily persuaded
I should have made a quite different figure in the world, from
that, in which the reader is likely to see me. Tristram Shandy (1759-1767), Laurence Sterne
A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close
to the hill-side bank and runs deep and green. Of Mice and Men (1937), John Steinbeck
These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr Bucket. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Roald
Dahl
No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth
century, that this world was being watched keenly and closely
by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his
own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns
they were being scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly
as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures
that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. The War of the Worlds (1898), H. G. Wells
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with
Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's
wife. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Frank Baum
1801 - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the
solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. Wuthering Heights (1847), Emily Bronte
For a long time, I went to bed early. Swann's Way (1913; trans. Lydia Davis), Marcel
Proust
The moment one learns English, complications set in. Chromos (1990), Felipe Alfau
We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued
to fall. Tracks (1988), Louise Erdrich
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