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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:
BalloonSlayer · 03/05/2013 08:15

Not an exact quote, but I don't think that matters as she uses it a couple of times in different books about different characters.

"People who claim not to care anything about money are always jolly good at spending other people's" - St Jilly of Cooper.

Love this as have found it to be v. true.

TrucksAndDinosaurs · 03/05/2013 02:09

'It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen'
1984, George Orwell

darksideofthemooncup · 03/05/2013 01:10

or this:
?The rabbit of Easter. He bring of the chocolate.?
― David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day

SorrelForbes · 03/05/2013 01:05

The Fossil sisters lived in the Cromwell Road. At that end of it which is farthest away from the Brompton Road, and yet sufficiently near it so one could be taken to look at the dolls? houses in the Victoria and Albert every wet day.

Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild.

My mum and I recite this anytime we're on these roads!

darksideofthemooncup · 03/05/2013 01:05

"I see . . ." said the vampire thoughtfully, and slowly he walked across the room towards the window. - Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire

thatsalovelyhat · 03/05/2013 00:36

Currently, 'The front end of a cow had never been so popular.' The Making of Tesco by Sarah Ryle.

OiVaVoi · 02/05/2013 23:12

Feather footed thought the plushy fen passes the questing vole

Opening line iof Scoop, Evelyn Waugh

ChubbyKitty · 02/05/2013 22:59

“At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it.”

Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

MrsKoala · 02/05/2013 22:51

'This is not an exit'

American Psycho

TartinaTiara · 02/05/2013 22:36

tumbletumble, you're right, I've just checked my copy and the last line is as you think. Now I'm totally confused as to where I got my line from, I'm nowhere near clever enough to have invented it.

Am going to have to re-read it again, it must be somewhere in there.

PrideOfChanur · 02/05/2013 21:58

"Worse things happen at sea" "but we're not at sea..."

From??? I suspect it is an Antonia Forest quote but I don't remember where from.Any AF fans recognise it?

Dawndonna · 02/05/2013 21:53

"Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy."
The Remains of The Day.

"In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;"
The love song of J Alfred Prufrock.
(I know it's a poem, but it is special).

fuzzpig · 02/05/2013 21:49

Fellowship of the Ring, J R R Tolkien:

When she arrived later in the day, she took the point at once - but she also took the spoons.

Potterer · 02/05/2013 21:45

"You play, you win, you play, you lose. You play.

It?s the playing that?s irresistible. Dicing from one year to the next with the things you love, what you risk reveals what you value"

Jeanette Winterson The Passion. Not her best book but I love that bit.

gallifrey · 02/05/2013 21:35

suck my fat one you cheap dime store hood

stand by me Stephen King

talkingnonsense · 02/05/2013 21:31

"I swear, sometimes I don't know whether to scream, or just walk off into the sunset."
"Why not do both? Walk into the sunset screaming?"

Love that last sentence! Diana wynne jones in 8days of Luke.

Also love, all power corrupts, but we need electricity.

Orianne · 02/05/2013 21:21

"From the very beginning? from the first moment, I may almost say? of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry."

Orianne · 02/05/2013 21:12

?I look placid, you see, that's why people think I'm fine. Inside I worry a lot.?

headlesshorseman · 02/05/2013 21:11

"Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion"

and

?I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.?

Pride and Prejudice Smile

Daisy17 · 02/05/2013 21:10

Slightly cheating, as it's a stage direction from Tennessee Williams, but his are so poetic..... "His smile lights her inwardly with altar candles." Just. Oh.

goingtobefree · 02/05/2013 21:08

Last time i dreamt of Manderlay( Rebecca)
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink
I capture the castle

OddSockMonster · 02/05/2013 21:06

"If I'm in, tell him I'm out, and if I'm out, tell him I'm in."
Catch 22.

MortifiedAdams · 02/05/2013 21:06

Dumbledore from me too...

"It does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live"

MrsWolowitz · 02/05/2013 21:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bassetfeet · 02/05/2013 20:59

?There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.?
― Kazuo Ishiguro