Many of us book lovers have a favourite opening line from a novel. One that stood out and has and remained ingrained in our memories. Today we’re sharing some of our favourite famous opening lines. 

#1 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth.”

#2 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

“It was a pleasure to burn him.”

#3 1984 by George Orwell

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

#4 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

#5 A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“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.”

#6 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank 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 conversations?”

#7 Middle Passage by Charles R. Johnson

“of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I’ve come to learn, is women.”

#8 The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Stern

“I begin with writing the first sentence – and trusting to Almighty God for the second.”

#9 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

“Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charms as the Tarleton twins were.”

#10 Paradise by Toni Morrison

“They shoot the white girl first.”

What’s your favourite opening line?