20 Memorable Opening Lines from Popular Books
Can you think back to the time you first read Harry Potter? Do you remember that unknown, almost magical tingling you felt, reading those opening lines?
''Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”
Now a famous first line, it doesn’t really say much. Except for the use of the word “normal” that suggests something’s afoot. Re-reading those opening lines, one wonders if anyone knew, back in 1997, that Harry Potter would turn out to be a once-in-a-century book series that would change the publishing world forever.
Popular books have this unique tendency to stand out and defy time. Some capture the mood of the world at a particular moment, while others provide a way to escape it. These are books that continue to enrich and entertain generations, be it through their prose, their stories, or by being genre-defining pieces of literature with a worldwide appeal.
While the following 20 famous lines from books cover classic, contemporary classics, as well as popular bestsellers from the recent past, interestingly, yet unsurprisingly, most of them have also found space in the entertainment industry.
Adapted into award-winning films and shows, novels like A Christmas Carol, Goldfinger, The Godfather, and The Book Thief have widened their fame through this medium, encouraging an audience that might not have otherwise picked up a book to read more. Such is the power of good storytelling, and nothing captures the attention of a new reader better than an intriguing, funny, mysterious, explosive, or downright absurd opening line.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1812)
“Once upon a time…”
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843)
“Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.”
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming (1959)
"James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death."
The Godfather by Mario Puzo (1969)
“Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.”
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)
“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.”
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."
Matilda by Roald Dahl (1988)
“It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.”
The Crow Road by Iain Banks (1992)
“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J K Rowling (1997)
''Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.''
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (1999)
"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book."
White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
"Early in the morning, late in the century, Cricklewood Broadway. At 0627 hours on January 1, 1975, Alfred Archibald Jones was dressed in corduroy and sat in a fume-filled Cavalier Musketeer Estate facedown on the steering wheel, hoping judgment would not be too heavy upon him."
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (2001)
"If you're going to read this, don't bother."
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)
“Here is a small fact: You are going to die.”
The Vegetarian by Han Kang (2007)
“Before my wife turned vegetarian, I’d always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way.”
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2008)
''There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.''
The Sellout by Paul Beatty (2015)
“This may be hard to believe, coming from a black man, but I've never stolen anything.”
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (2015)
"I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces.”
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (2016)
"The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other. Apart hate, is what it was. You separate people into groups and make them hate one another so you can run them all."
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (2017)
“History has failed us, but no matter.”
Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)
“I spent much of my childhood listening to the sound of striving.”
