Thread: What are the best lines you've ever read?

Are there any lines from books that just haunted you for days after reading them? Please share them.

The Gunslinger! By Stephen King. The ending of the part where Roland and The Darkman meet and The Man in Black tells of him The Dark Tower and his masters. Especially the part where he talks of the whole universe possibly being a tiny molecule in a blade of grass on another world. It made me consider a lot of philosophy and life itself.

dude! dark tower junkie represent!!!


but i didnt like the last three.


anyway, ALOT from a series of unfortunate events. i know its a kids' book series, but they get crazy.


i dont think i can actually type some here. its like, illegal i think.

Catcher in the Rye-"I always think the girls I'm neckin' are so intelligent..."
That whole bit. I just came out of a farcical infatuation at the time so it kinda struck a chord.

If there's a Top 100 Best Lines list filed away in my head someplace, about 90 of them are courtesy of Oscar Wilde. The rest are Douglas Adams.

Hm..yes, it may be illegal. I hadn't though of that. But if you quote just one line, I think it's okay. After all, some websites have lists of best first lines of a novel.

Yes, Oscar Wilde would definately have claim about 90% of good lines. I wonder if there is a list like that somewhere.

I was reading a book by Deepak Chopra and I have two lines I figured I could share here.

"The wisdom inside you is like a spark that once lit can never be extinguished."

And...

"Being alive means winning the right to say anything you want, to be who you want to be, and to do what you want to do."

For now that's all I can think of.

There was one line in Terry Pratchett's 'The Light Fantastic' that made me laugh out loud:

"They say curiosity killed the cat. However, Herena's curiosity could've masacred a pride of lions"

A lot of lines by Chuck Palahniuk and Terry Pratchett.

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions."

—Catch–22

i've just read lolita, so a lot of lines from that - but the one that sticks out the most is:
I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art.

For some reason this quote struck me as true and stuck in my head since reading the book:

'An English gentleman never polishes his shoes, but then nor does a lazy bastard.' - From 'Dorian' by Will Self.

The line from Catcher in the Rye about how, when he died, his tombstone would have his name and when he died and then right under that someone would write, "F--- you."

"Then terror came." H.P.Lovecraft, "The Hound" 1934.

The line that stuck with me, and will forever is

"Go, then; there are other worlds than these."

Stated by Jake in the first of the Dark Tower series.