Literary first lines everyone misquotes
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Literary First Lines Everyone Misquotes — Daily trivia Thursday, April 16, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01What is the very first sentence of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic The Hobbit?
- AThere once was a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who enjoyed a quiet life.
- BFar below the misty mountains, a dragon guarded its hoard.
- CWhen Bilbo Baggins was about to be swept off on an adventure, he had no idea what awaited him.
- DIn a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
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In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Tolkien said it all began while he was marking exam papers: on a blank page he wrote 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.' The book grew from that line.
Q 02What is the famous opening line of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick?
- AIn the vast ocean, a great whale awaited.
- BMy name is Ishmael, and this is my story.
- CCall me Ishmael.
- DThe Pequod set sail on a fateful voyage.
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Call me Ishmael.
'Call me Ishmael' opens Chapter 1, but it isn't the first text in the book: Melville put an 'Etymology' and pages of whale 'Extracts' ahead of it.
Q 03Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 opens with what chilling statement?
- AFiremen, in this future, started fires, rather than put them out.
- BThe books were burning, and the world was silent.
- CMontag never questioned his job until that night.
- DIt was a pleasure to burn.
Show answer
It was a pleasure to burn.
'It was a pleasure to burn' opens the novel, and a 2010 collection of the Bradbury stories that led to it took the phrase as its title: A Pleasure to Burn.
Q 04George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four begins with which line?
- AIt was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
- BBig Brother was watching, always watching.
- CThe year was 1984, and the world was a different place.
- DWinston Smith despised the Party above all else.
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It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.' Winston then dates his secret diary April 4th, 1984, though he can't be sure that is even the year.
Q 05What is the complete first sentence of Jane Austen's beloved novel Pride and Prejudice?
- AIt is a universal truth, that a rich man always desires a partner.
- BThe Bennet family was in an uproar over the new arrival.
- CIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
- DIn matters of marriage, fortune was always the first consideration.
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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man…' is a joke: the next sentence says local families regard any rich newcomer as the rightful property of their daughters.
Q 06Which of these is the opening line of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in Constance Garnett's classic translation?
- AHappy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
- BHappy families are all the same, but every unhappy family is unhappy differently.
- CThe Oblonskys were a family in disarray, their peace shattered by infidelity.
- DThere is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.
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Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way' is Garnett's 1901 wording of the opening that inspired the Anna Karenina principle: success needs every factor to go right.
Q 07Which sentence opens F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated novel The Great Gatsby?
- AJay Gatsby lived in a mansion on West Egg, a monument to his elusive dreams.
- BIn my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
- CNick Carraway came East that spring to learn the bond business and stayed for the summer.
- DThe parties at Gatsby's house were legendary, but few knew the man behind them.
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In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
'In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice…' opens the book. The line often quoted instead, 'So we beat on, boats against the current', is its last.
Q 08Joseph Heller's satirical novel Catch-22 begins with which seemingly simple, yet ironic, statement?
- AIt was love at first sight.
- BThe war was a madhouse, and Yossarian was its sanest resident.
- CIn the absurdity of war, there was always a Catch-22.
- DYossarian was determined to live forever or die trying.
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It was love at first sight.
'It was love at first sight' opens the book, which nearly launched as Catch-18 until Leon Uris's new novel Mila 18 led to a change of number.
Q 09Which of these is the correct first line of Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre?
- AMrs Reed had never wanted me in her house, and she made sure I knew it.
- BThere was no possibility of taking a walk that day.
- CMy childhood was a time of hardship and little joy.
- DI remember the red-room vividly, a place of terror and solitude.
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There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.
'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day' opens the novel. The line everyone quotes, 'Reader, I married him', begins its final chapter instead.
Q 10Which of these completes the famously long first sentence of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities?
- A...in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
- B...yet through it all, the human spirit endured, seeking hope amidst the despair and light within the darkness.
- C...a time of great upheaval and profound change, where the old order crumbled and a new one struggled to be born.
- D...and in those contrasting times, two cities stood on the brink of revolution, unaware of their intertwined fates.
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...in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
After some 85 words of paired opposites, Dickens ends: '…in short, the period was so far like the present period', telling readers the 1770s mirrored their own day.
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