Memorable First Sentences

There are many works that are eminently quotable, but for some reason only certain works are instantly recognizable, even by people who have not read them, by their first sentence or phrase. I am including works that have this property for the general public as well as those for which some cursory familiarity with the literary tradition is required. In the spirit of this thesis, the titles of the works are hidden.

Call me Ishmael

Все счастливые семьи похожи друг на друга, каждая несчастливая семья несчастлива по-своему

All happy families appear like one another, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

«Мой дядя самых честных правил,
Когда не в шутку занемог,
Он уважать себя заставил
И лучше выдумать не мог.

"My uncle has most honest principles;
when taken ill in earnest
he has made one respect him
and nothing better could invent.

N.B. This one is for Russian speakers and students of Russian

Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres...

All Gaul is divided into three parts...

N.B. This one is for those who have taken a Latin class

Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt.

One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore —
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

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

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?