logos redux

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

In the days when the spinning-wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses - and even great ladies, clothed in silk and threadlace, had their toy spinning-wheels of polished oak - there might be seen in districts far away among the lanes, or deep in the bosom of the hills, certain pallid undersized men, who by the side of the brawny country-folk, looked like the remnants of a disinherited race.

So Begins George Elliot’s (Mary Ann Evans’) Silas Marner

“Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”

So begins William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

“The silhouette has obvious advantages over the full-face portrait.”

So begins N.T. Wright’s Jesus and the Victory of God.

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

So begins Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.”

So begins J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists in two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”

So begins John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.

I am interested in first lines. I think beginnings are very important. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; He was with God in the beginning.” “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…”

In that spirit, here’s the first line of the book I’m now reading. It’s a good one:

“Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man.”

Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson.

I love it. Simple, concise, powerful. I think I’ll start a running category of first lines. I’ll start tomorrow, leaving the author and work blank, in case anyone cares to guess. Until then, cheerio.