Mumsnet Talk

Posting on the thread about lines of fiction that give you chills made me think of one I always used to adore, from War of the Worlds.

"Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up in my mind of life spreading slowly from this little seed-bed of the solar system, throughout the inanimate vastness of sidereal space."

I read it as a teen, and for some reason it always seemed very deep and 'important' - most satisfying (and I had to look up sidereal!!)

Have quite impressed myself actually, as I can still remember it exactly.

What lines make you sigh happily?

"What's wanted is a man with a whip"

Teen me sniggered... it has never left my memory

Great idea Yoho,

'Le vrai paradis c'est le paradis qu'on a perdu' Roughly translated to ' The only true paradise is a paradise we have lost' from Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

Cue much navel-gazing in my younger self

"the heart is an organ of fire"
from the english patient

Mrs Danvers - yes, I'd have loved that as an angst-filled teen!

Purplemonkey - am I alowed a childish snigger at the word "organ" ?

Actually I'd like to add Sarte's "Hell is other people."

Sometimes it's just, well, true...