First Lines

I have been thinking a lot lately about how easily I fall for first lines. If an ugly guy has a good line (or not so good to be honest) he usually peaks my interest. I am not hit on very often, but here are some of the lines I remember the most and the ones that were most effective with me. Please do not judge me for my stupidity. "I can't believe you don't have a man a home who is watching the clock and counting down the minutes until you get home." That was the charming Seaborn that only got better as time went on. The other day, a nice painter from Peru said, "The minute I looked at you I was like, wow, I am in love with this women." No, I did not sleep with him, but he almost had me. Men are usually not that creative, at least the guys who hit on the girl behind the front desk are not. I guess that is why I love the first line of a book. There is really nothing better than to stand in the aisle of a bookstore, open the cover of an unknown novel, and be taken into the world the author will create in the pages that follow the first. It is my belief that no book with a great first line will disappoint. I wish I could find a man that would excite me as much as the first line of some of my favorite books.

"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love."
Love in the Time of Cholera

"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself."
Mrs. Dalloway

"This is the saddest story I have ever heard."
The Good Soldier

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."
Jane Eyre

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."
Pride and Prejudice

"The sun shone, having no alternative, on nothing new."
Murphy

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
One Hundred Years of Solitude

Although I am not a fan of westerns, this line is my new favorite. It sucked me in and made me read it. I have loved the book.

"See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire. Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow and darker woods beyond that harbor yet a few last wolves. His folks are known for hewers of wood and drawers of water but in truth his father has been a schoolmaster. He lies in drink, he quotes from poets whose names are now lost. The boy crouches by the fire and watches him."
Blood Meridian

I know this is more than the first line, but I could not find a good place to stop. I could have given you the first two pages. The book is very Faulkner and Melvillesque.
What are some of your favorite first lines? Don't worry if one of your favorites has already been taken; add it anyway.