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Original poster

Fave one liner from a book?

360 replies

judgejudyandexecutioner · 02/05/2013 15:45

"It's lipless mouth quivered and slathered"
War of the Worlds - H G Wells
Grin

OP posts:
thegreylady · 04/05/2013 17:16

They are books by Antonia Forest.They are mainly a family saga/school story st just about [vaguely] post war and they involve the family dynamics as well as adventures.I would guess they are aimed at and would be enjoyed by dc[girls mostly] aged from 10 upwards.
Chronologically the first one [if you discount the historical The Players Boy] is The Marlowes and the Traitor then The thuggery Affair and Falconers Lure.There are four set mainly in school Autumn Term, The Cricket Term,The Attic Term and End of Term and some very interesting ones set at home Peter's Room, The Readymade Family, The Thursday Kidnapping and Fly Away Home which was the last one.
I may have muddled the order a little but they are head and shoulders above most stories for girls bot in content and quality of writing.
The Marlowes are a Naval family and the father and the eldest child [Giles] are rarely at home.The next oldest is Karen,then Rowan,Ann,Peter and finally identical twin girls Nicola [usually the central character] and Lawrence [Lawrie].
HTH

Badvoc · 04/05/2013 17:01

What are the Marlowe books please?

thegreylady · 04/05/2013 16:35

Seeker and co I love the Marlowe books too -all of them and Rowan's dry humour is superb.I am very fortunate in owning all the books including The Marlowes and the Traitor which is very hard to find now.

thegreylady · 04/05/2013 16:32

One of the sexiest moments in' literature' is when Harriet calls Peter 'My Lord' in Busman's Honeymoon.

NotTreadingGrapes · 04/05/2013 16:21

I'll hold you up and say it was all you, I'll lay you down and say it was all me.

John Le Carre.

NotTreadingGrapes · 04/05/2013 16:20

If you have to go away again, at least try to remember how we were tonight.

GG Marquez

ArtemisCake · 04/05/2013 16:00

We are made from bits of stars - the Crow Road Iain Banks

seeker · 04/05/2013 15:28

I think Gaudy Night might be my favourite book.

SoniaGluck · 04/05/2013 15:26

SciFiFan I adore that bit from Gaudy Night.

One of my favourite lines is Beatrice in Much Ado:

" I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves
me. "

Trixidoll · 04/05/2013 15:19

'Reader, I ate him'

Brilliant one line chapter from Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf

MNHQ
YoniMeKateMumsnet · 04/05/2013 14:41

Oops should have said that's ^ from Catcher in the Rye.

And strictly speaking it's not a one liner, so....

"Come back", Atonement, Ian McEwan

MNHQ
YoniMeKateMumsnet · 04/05/2013 14:37

"While I was walking, I passed these two guys that were unloading the big Christmas tree off a truck. One guy kept saying to the other guy, "Hold the sonuvabitch up! Hold it up, for Chrissake!". It certainly was a gorgeous way to talk about a Christmas tree."

That bit always kills me.

fuzzpig · 04/05/2013 14:36

"kings of New England" sounds wrong to me - I'm too used to watching the futurama episode 'the cyber house rules' where the line is "kings of NEW New England" :o

MissMogwi · 04/05/2013 14:31

*our not outer. Bloody auto correct!

MissMogwi · 04/05/2013 14:31

From The Importance of Being Earnest.

Cecily and Gwendolyn arguing over the mysterious Ernest:

Cecily. "...when I see a spade I call it a spade."

Gwendolyn. "I am glad to say I have never seen a spade. It is obvious outer social spheres have been widely different."

Makes me Grin every time.

Puddlelane · 04/05/2013 14:03

This needs to go in classics!

Mrsrobertduvall · 04/05/2013 13:54

"Good night you princes of Maine, kings of New England" Cider House Rules John Irving

And "Hey Boo". To kill a mockingbird ( note my username Ladybeagle)

Celticlassie · 04/05/2013 13:44

Another Shakespeare one I love - "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

MilesAwayGirl · 04/05/2013 11:49

Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.
Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

seeker · 04/05/2013 08:11

Sowornout- I use that one all th Tim too!

My other favourite Rowanism is "just one more infant rabbit keeping her tiny end up"

But maybe you have to have read the book........

Homebird8 · 04/05/2013 04:40

From Middlemarch by George Eliot: a retort by a younger sister on announcement of her sister's marriage to an unusual choice of spouse.

"Only think! at breakfast, and always."

And well remembered by me when choosing my own DH. He will be there at breakfast and always. Could I stand it? Could he? I'm not a morning person. Wink

DomesticEntrepreneur · 04/05/2013 00:58

"At one time, I would have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story that I will ever be able to tell."
From Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Still sends a shiver down my spine, even now.
"It wasn't that he was unaware of the despair and the nobility of the human condition. It was just that, as far as he was concerned, you could stuff it."
The Librarian, the Discworld novels

NishiNoUsagi · 04/05/2013 00:46

"Virtually everything you decide today will be wrong."

Dirk Gently's horoscope, in The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.
I find it strangely reassuring Grin

waltermittymissus · 03/05/2013 23:57

?People hate as they love, unreasonably.?
― William Makepeace Thackeray

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 03/05/2013 23:54

So great to hear all these Austen classics.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, etc.

Also love the last line of a Wodehouse short story:
"Oh, I'll think of a title." It's called A Bit of Luck for Mabel.

Too many others to list or remember...