20 best opening lines from novels

Some of the top opening lines include 'Call me Ishmael.' from 'Moby - Dick' by Herman Melville. This simple yet powerful line immediately draws the reader in, making them curious about who Ishmael is. Also, 'All children, except one, grow up.' from 'Peter Pan' by J.M. Barrie is quite memorable. It sets the stage for the story of the boy who never grows up. And then there's 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...' from the 'Star Wars' novelizations, which is iconic and gives a sense of vastness and mystery.

One of the best opening lines is from 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkien: 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.' It's simple yet immediately draws you into the unique world of hobbits and Middle - earth.

The opening line of 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens is also great: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...' It immediately creates a sense of contrast and mystery, making the reader wonder about the two cities and the different situations within them. It's a very thought - provoking start to a complex and epic story about the French Revolution and its impacts.

A great opening line is 'All children, except one, grow up.' from J.M. Barrie's 'Peter Pan'. This line is simple yet very effective. It makes the reader wonder about that one special child and why they don't grow up like the others. It also gives a sense of mystery and the promise of an adventure.

One of the best is 'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.' from George Orwell's '1984'. It immediately sets an off - kilter, dystopian mood.

One more notable opening line could be 'In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.' from 'The Great Gatsby'. This line makes the reader curious about what that advice was and why it has been on the narrator's mind for so long. It gives a sense of a story that has been brewing in the narrator's head for a while.

One of the best opening lines is from '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.' This line sets the tone for the whole story which is centered around marriage and social status in the 19th - century English society.

One great opening line could be 'In a world where the sun never set, the people had forgotten the beauty of the stars.' It immediately sets an unusual and somewhat mysterious setting that makes the reader wonder why the sun never sets and what that means for the people. It also creates a contrast between the sun and the stars, which can be explored further in the story.

In '1984' by George Orwell, 'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.' This opening line is really effective. The fact that the clocks are striking thirteen is immediately jarring and out of the ordinary. It signals to the reader that this is a world that is different from our own, perhaps a dystopian one where normal rules don't apply. It makes the reader curious to find out more about this strange world.

Another great one is 'All children, except one, grow up' from 'Peter Pan'. It's so simple yet it draws you in right away, making you wonder about that one child. There are also lines like 'Call me Ishmael' from 'Moby - Dick' which is very iconic and gives a sense of the narrator's identity and sets the tone for the story. These opening lines are great because they either create mystery, set the mood, or introduce a key concept right from the start.