Unforgettable Opening Lines That Unlock the Door to Literature

Anna Karenina – Lev Tolstoy:
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Moby Dick – Herman Melville:
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world."

The Stranger – Albert Camus:
"Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know."

1984 – George Orwell:
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him."

A Tale of Two Cities – 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."

Pride and Prejudice – 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."

One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
"Colonel Aureliano Buendía, facing the firing squad, remembered the distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov:
"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul."

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury:
"It was a pleasure to burn."