Articles on literature are collected here, including one that looks like the original to my notes on “What Makes Literature Classic?” and a list of great first lines of books.

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.”

Mitchell Smith, Due North: “She stood on the fox until it died.”
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From a Hemingway short story, “In Another Country”: “In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it anymore.”
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From Charlotte’s Web: “‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.”
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Quest for a Maid by Frances Mary Hendry: “When I was seven, I hid under a table and watched my sister kill a king.”
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Orwell, “England Your England”: “As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.”

This leaves out my favorite. From a popular science fiction novel by Miller and Lee, “The man who was not Terrence O’Grady came quietly.”