I thought it appropriate to share this article, written by By Hephzibah Anderson on 29 October 2019 - see http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20191022-what-are-the-best-first-lines-in-fiction.
The article quotes some fine examples, with which most of us are familiar
Charles Dickens: David Copperfield
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol
Marley was dead, to begin with.
Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Herman Melville: Moby Dick
Call me Ishmael.
I would like to extend the idea to include the best opening paragraph from a book, which to my mind belongs to The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration. In scarlet and blue and green and purple, three by three the sovereigns rode through the palace gates, with plumed helmets, crimson sashes, and jeweled orders flashing in the sun. After them came five heirs apparent, forty more imperial or royal highnesses, seven queens–four dowager and three regnant–and a scattering of special ambassadors from uncrowned countries. Together they represented seventy nations in the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and, of its kind, the last. The muffled tongue of Big Ben tolled nine by the clock as the cortege left the palace, but on history’s clock it was sunset, and the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendor never to be seen again.
And what of some other famous lines that do not open a book but I wish they did. For instance, how about this from Dante's Divine Comedy
TO ENTER THE LOST CITY, GO THROUGH ME.
THROUGH ME YOU GO TO MEET A SUFFERING
UNCEASING AND ETERNAL. YOU WILL BE
WITH PEOPLE WHO, THROUGH ME, LOST EVERYTHING
MY MAKER, MOVED BY JUSTICE, LIVES ABOVE,
THROUGH HIM, THE HOLY POWER, I WAS MADE -
MADE BY THE HEIGHT OF WISDOM AND FIRST LOVE,
WHOSE LAWS ALL THOSE IN HERE ONCE DISOBEYED
FROM NOW ON, EVERY DAY FEELS LIKE YOUR LAST
FOREVER. LET THAT BE YOUR GREATEST FEAR
YOUR FUTURE NOW IS TO REGRET THE PAST,
FORGET YOUR HOPES, THEY WERE WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE.
