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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:
LifeofPo · 02/05/2013 20:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StiffyByng · 02/05/2013 20:51

'He went so far as to suggest that Master Simmons was well known to the police.'

Right Ho, Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse. (Chapter 17)

Not really a stunner in isolation, but I assume an entire chapter is not admissible and this is the one line of the whole thing that simply makes me choke with laughter.

JourneyThroughLife · 02/05/2013 20:46

Startling phrase in a book, which changed my life:

" 'Therapist' and 'the rapist' - just a matter of spacing, but the meaning is the same..."

Shute, in a book called 'Life Size' - a fictional account, about anorexia and therapy...

LifeofPo · 02/05/2013 20:39

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YouDontWinFriendsWithSalad · 02/05/2013 20:35

Oh, how could I forget Gatsby - on every page there is something that takes my breath away.

The last line gives me shivers, I just love it:

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Earthworms · 02/05/2013 20:19

" I'd love to stay and help, only I'm not going to"

Hitchhikers.
A favourite in our house, and very useful.

AJBthesecond · 02/05/2013 20:16

"He sighed patriotically."

Whisky Galore, Compton Mckenzie.

Wallison · 02/05/2013 20:14

Another Forster one here: Yet as he spoke the darkness was withdrawn, veil after veil, and she saw to the bottom of her soul.

Love love love Mr Emerson.

fertilityFTW · 02/05/2013 20:14

?It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.?

― from 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

swanyriver · 02/05/2013 20:13

?It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.?

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

tumbletumble · 02/05/2013 20:11

Now I'm confused. My copy of I Capture the Castle ends with 'I love you, I love you, I love you.' Do I have a different version to the rest of you?!

SilentMammoth · 02/05/2013 20:07

"I poured cereal and powdered milk in a bowl and ran it under the tap" !The Object of My Affection. Ace book, less good film.

PoppyAmex · 02/05/2013 20:03

"Very good," I said coldly. "In that case, tinkerty-tonk."
And I meant it to sting.

Bertie arguing with Jeeves - PG Wodehouse

WhoPaintedTheLion · 02/05/2013 20:02

My user name. "Who painted the lion? Tell me, who?" Wife of Bath, Canterbury Tales.

Also, I like Pratchett's explaination of the beginning of the universe where giant space turtles mated. They called it thr Big Bang.

BikeRunSki · 02/05/2013 19:57

Geology, that's time and magic - Uncle Rory, The Crow Road - Iain Banks

It was the day my grandmother exploded - opening line of The Crow Road, Iain Banks

PrideOfChanur · 02/05/2013 19:56

If Hitchhiker is being quoted "Why stop now,just when I'm hating it" is a favorite in our house.(actually,true for most of what Marvin says!)

And Ds's fave quote at the moment is from Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent "We'd better batten down the hatches" said the Dean "We don't have any hatches"" "Batten down Mrs Whitlow at least..."

fizzykola · 02/05/2013 19:56

Love the I Capture The Castle line too.

Also:

'At the end of the eternal why? is a yes and a yes and a yes!'
Room With a View, EM Forster.
So positive.

And for contrast, the killer opening line of Albert Camus The Outsider:

'Today my mother died. Or maybe yesterday, I'm not sure'

FruOla · 02/05/2013 19:53

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills."

Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen) - Out Of Africa

NulliusInBlurba · 02/05/2013 19:52

Not exactly a novel, but from The Wastelandby Toilets TS Eliot.

"Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over"

Can be used for all sorts of situations.

TartinaTiara · 02/05/2013 19:49

Last line of I capture the castle.

I love. I have loved. I will love.

Brave and sad and hopeful all at once.

RedJeans · 02/05/2013 19:46

Mine are both Dumbledore quotes Grin

"And now Harry, let us step out into the night and persue that flighty temptress, adventure"

"Of course it is happening inside your head Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

And many more!

FrankellyMyDearIDontGiveADamn · 02/05/2013 19:41

So pleased that someone else has quoted Hitchhikers Grin

My favourite line, from the HH books:

"Flying is the art of throwing yourself at the ground and missing"

Or, when the occasion calls for it:

"Go stick your head in a pig!"

Celticlassie · 02/05/2013 19:39

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that?s no matter?tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning?"

totallystumped · 02/05/2013 19:33

More of a phrase "... like a plate of scarlet porridge..." Margo's acned face in Gerrald Durrell's "My Family and Other Animals"

Soert of an anti-fav "The womb of his young wife had borne a single dark and malignant child." Stephen King "The Stand" (chills me, every time)

milkwasabadchoice · 02/05/2013 19:14

We live as we dream: alone.

Conrad - heart of darkness