Few things in life outrank a killer opening line. (Okay—coffee, wine, and locating your phone charger before bed. But after that, it’s all about the words.) The right first sentence doesn’t just grab you—it yanks you in faster than a midnight binge of a true crime podcast.
And in the case of the greats, those lines didn’t just hook readers—they helped turn the books themselves into classics. These are the sentences that made literature history, the ones that made readers gasp, snort-laugh, or mutter, “Well, damn… guess I’m in this for the long haul.”
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Translation: “Got money? Congrats, you’re now the hottest bachelor in town.” Let’s be honest—Jane Austen basically invented the perfect opener.
Grab your copy of Pride and Prejudice [here]
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
“Call me Ishmael.”
So simple. So bold. The literary equivalent of texting “U up?” at 2 a.m. Melville knew how to set the tone.
Snag a beautiful edition [here]
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
Basically Dickens saying, “Life’s a mess, buckle up.” Relatable.
You can find it [here]
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Leo was dishing out family secrets way before reality TV got the memo.
Classic edition [here]
1984 by George Orwell
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Leave it to Orwell to start with a line that makes zero sense… until it suddenly makes all the sense.
Grab 1984 [here].
Final Thoughts
Opening lines matter. They’re the doorway to obsession, the hook that drags you into another world. These five? They didn’t just nail it—they set the gold standard. The hack? Write one unforgettable first sentence, and the rest of the book just might become a classic.
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