You only get one chance to make a first impression - and when it comes to the undertaking of a novel, that first sentence is all-important. If an author doesn't nail those first few words, the whole novel can feel a bit off-kilter, which is why writers have obsessed over their first words for hundreds of years.

In fact, it's become something of a cliché, with an aspiring writer in Albert Camus' The Plague constantly writing and rewriting the first line of his novel without ever progressing. Occasionally, a novel-opener can feel tedious and overworked, an obvious product of constant change, or a horse designed by a committee of competing impulses and fears, if you will.

Not so for the iconic first lines in this quiz. Within the vast canon of literature, these first lines have risen to the top. Truly, this is the tone-setting cream of the literary crop. Some of these lines are so famous that they've been reused and parodied in other novels, even making their way into TV and film. Sometimes they end up eclipsing the novel itself - you might not have read every novel on this list, but chances are you'll know how they begin. Read More ▼▲