first lines, last lines

for no good reason:

i used to copy out my favorite lines from books i'd read, especially first and last lines. my favorite firsty is probably from norman maclean: "in our family there was no clear line between religion and fly-fishing" (a river runs through it (chicago: univ. of chicago press, 1989: 1)). another favorite, albeit less literary and more pulp fictiony than mclean is: "what i have learned through my short and disastrous legal career is that in law, as in life, the only rational expectation is calamity" (william lasher, hostile witness (regan books, 1995: 1)). off the top of my head, i can't recall many last lines i've been taken by, save a line from the last page of beuchner's telling secrets (san francisco: harper, 1992):

i have sensed the presence
of a presence.
i have felt a promise
promised.

but saturday i read a sentence from the middle of a book that i thought was great -- upon vernon's having spent his first night in jail: "last night was long, boy, long and shivery with ghosts and realizations" (dbc pierre, vernon god little (new york: canongate, 2003: 39)). i know exactly how he felt.