Comments on: What’s your favorite line?

By: Simone

Simone — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:27:08 +0000

“Wild nights are my glory” – A Wrinkle in Time

“I know no medium: I never in my life have known any medium in my dealings with positive, hard characters, antagonistic to my own, between absolute submission and determined revolt. I have always faithfully observed the one, up to the moment of bursting, sometimes with volcanic vehemence” – Jane Eyre (bit long)

“I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.” – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Plenty more but these came to mind first!

By: Elizabeth Lynd

Elizabeth Lynd — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:48:53 +0000

Chiming in late, but someone mentioned Shel Silverstein, which made me remember this line from his poem “Lester”:

“In a world of apples and kisses and shoes
He wasted his wishes on wishing.”

By: Meredith Gilley

Meredith Gilley — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:18:20 +0000

Ahhhhh — now you have me thinking back and I had to add a few more from Robert McCammon — Swan Song and Boy’s Life… I can’t believe I didn’t add these in on my first post as he has always been a major influence!

“I had always wondered what Reverend Lovoy meant when he talked about “grace.” I understood it now. It was being able to give up something that it broke your heart to lose, and be happy about it.”
― Boy’s Life

“…the magic place of soul-soothing dreams, where the silken sheen of polished glass under soft lights made her think of how lovely Heaven was going to be.”
― Swan Song

“Once upon a time, we had a love affair with fire.”
― Swan Song

These books are so marked up from places I underlined, that I am not sure I will be able to get through them — guess it’s time for some new copies!

Great Idea Stacey and thank you for making me think of some of my old favorites — it really takes me back!

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:37:47 +0000

Thanks to all of you who have shared your favorite lines. There are some great ones here. Keep them coming!!

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:36:44 +0000

Love this story, Emily. Thanks for sharing it.

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:46:22 +0000

My memorable line was also penned by Kurt Vonnegut for Slaughterhouse Five:

“…I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.”

It was 1969, when the book came out and I was deep in the anti-war movement, his book fed the angst of that period very well. But even more, I was 27, an undergraduate with dreams of a Ph.D., and fighting cancer, and facing yet another surgery. The line resonated so strongly with me I printed it on an index card in block letter and, now, 42 years later, I still have the card.

So now with a long career behind me, with publishers making silly pronouncement about not wanting to publish novels by senior citizens, I still ask “… myself about the present: how wide it is, how deep it is, how much is mine to keep.”

By: Diana

Diana — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:45:18 +0000

From Julie Garwood’s The Secret: “One whisper added to a thousand whispers will become a roar of discontent even the church can not ignore.”

You can substitute any large organization in a position of power for the word church and it still applies.

By: Meredith Gilley

Meredith Gilley — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:02:29 +0000

I have a few — James Joyce and Shakespeare were from high school days and Shel Silverstein from when I was little. I think I had to read Macbeth at least 20 times as we put it on as a play in high school and we used the original text (our school was very arts centered and I was the stage manager for the play so had to call lines — I think for awhile, I’d memorized over half the play – haha.)

The first line from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man still makes me laugh for some reason — “Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road…”

Another — when I am irritated about having to do something I don’t really want to do, I think of the line from the Shel Silverstein poem — “Somebody has to polish the stars, they’re looking a little bit dull.”

And finally, from Macbeth, just because I love how powerful a line it is…
“Macbeth: … Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

By: Mardi

Mardi — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:27:18 +0000

From Jim Harrison’s novel “Dalva”: “In the main, we die seven times more slowly than our dogs.”

He gets all the biggies in there — mortality, nature, humanity and plot — but does it so beautifully and so Jim Harrisony.

By: Dave Sosnowski

Dave Sosnowski — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:52:15 +0000

One of my favorite lines of all time isn’t even a full line, and it doesn’t come from a novel or even prose, but from the poem “Howl,” by William Ginsburg: “…boxcarsboxcarsboxcars…” When I read that for the first time, I was stunned by its brilliance. Another line that’s a favorite is a quote from Tom Waits: “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.” As you can see, I gravitate toward word play and linguistic cleverness.