Favourite opening lines

[Herbie]

Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps...please

 

[Yellow Fang]

No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that this world was being watched by intelligences greater than man's yet as mortal as his own;

 

[661-Pete]

The War of the Worlds.

How about this one?
"Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life."

 

[Yellow Fang]

A few more to guess:

Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him.

The house was named 'The Cave'.

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning in my mind ever since.

XXXXXX, light of my life, fire of my loins.

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, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

 

[marinyork]

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning in my mind ever since.

Gatsby.

XXXXXX, light of my life, fire of my loins.

Lolita.

 

[pepecat]

Like most people I lived a long time with my mother and father. My father liked to watch the wrestling. My mother liked to wrestle...

Ha ha !! Just started reading that this afternoon!! Great book!

 

[pepecat]

The War of the Worlds.

How about this one?
"Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life."

Hard Times. Marv.

 

[pepecat]

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees through the desert for a hundred miles, repenting.

 

[marinyork]

Interestingly enough as F Scott Fitzgerald died in December 1940 due to UK Copyright Law, The Great Gatsby should actually be out of copyright in the UK (which I've never seen confirmed and probably won't be as it's stil in copyright in the US) so you're not breaking any laws downloading it from project Gutenberg australia.

 

[661-Pete]

Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him.

Know that one: Brighton Rock. But you've not quoted it quite right, in my copy it says:
Hale knew they meant to murder him before he had been in Brighton three hours.

 

[661-Pete]

An easy one, but entertaining:

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter,
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

 

[germanicdogman]

oe to You Oh Earth and Sea
for the Devil sends the beast with wrath
because he knows the time is short
Let him who have understanding
reckon the number of the beast
for it is a human number
its number is six hundred and sixty six.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

An easy one, but entertaining:

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter,
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

T S Eliot - still got the LP somewhere read by the man himself.

 

[germanicdogman]

[QUOTE 1329047"]
That'll be Cliff Richard's new single! "A Time for smiling."






[/quote]

or it could be iron maiden.....the number of the beast

 

[661-Pete]

Here's one, perhaps a tad more difficult.

"They used to hang men at Four Turnings in the old days.
Not any more, though."
If you've guessed it, can you say what else is particular about these opening lines?