Best. Line. Ever.

[TarnishedPenny]

The most expressive, the most descriptive, the most sensual, the most descriptive - whatever, but simply the Best.

Not a chapter, not a whole speech, not a full scene, not even a whole paragraph. Just one or two lines from any published or historical book, speech, play or movie. Source must be cited.

I'll start:

Silence fell like a hammer made of feathers. It left holes in the shape of the sound of the sea. - Nation by Terry Pratchett​

 

[FAITHandFLESH]

It is remarkable how similar the pattern of love is to the pattern of insanity...

The Merovingian, The Matrix Reloaded

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You want to hear me scream? You really want to hear me scream? Then play some rap music. - Bruce Willis - The Last Boy Scout.

 

[SimonDoom]

Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.

Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

 

[Bramblethorn]

"What am I doing?"
"You know very well. You're playing with fire."
"At least it warms me." - Sibella and Louis, "Kind Hearts and Coronets".

"After using the silken rope...never again be content with hemp." - Mr. Elliot the hangman, ibid.

"Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape." - Terry Pratchett/Death, "Hogfather".

"You have no power here - what power have dreams in Hell?"
"Tell me, Lucifer Morningstar, what power would Hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of Heaven?” - Lucifer and Morpheus, Neil Gaiman's "Sandman".

"Why should I change? He's the one who sucks." - Michael Bolton (the other one), "Office Space"

 

[KeithD]

I've always been partial to the shock of Cher's "Snap outta it!" as she slaps Nicholas Cage in Moonstruck.

 

[WoolyWorm]

"My chest bumps like a dryer with shoes in it."
—David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

"Returning to the door of the drawing-room, where there were more people now and everything seemed to be moving in a sort of luminous haze, he stood there watching the dancing, half shutting his eyes in order to see better, and breathing in the languorous scent of the women, which filled the room like a vast, ubiquitous kiss."
—Gustave Flaubert, Sentimental Education

"There was much conversation, most of which sounded like the rest of it."
—Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith

"There are too many people on this earth. We need a new plague."
—Dwight Schrute, The Office

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

"If I show up at your door, it's because you did something to bring me there"
-John Cusack - Grosse Pointe Blank

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Hard to choose, but here's a few of my favorite lines from The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, which is the first book in a series that I am a big fan of:

“When you don't know what to do, do what's right and do what's in front of you. But not necessarily what's right in front of you.”

“Maybe when you were born on the top of the mountain you could pretend the mountain didn't matter, but those who climbed it and those born at its base who could never climb at all knew differently.”

“Do you know why you feel destined for something greater?”
“Why?” Kip asked, quiet, hopeful.
“Because you’re an arrogant little shit.”

“One doesn't interrupt a beautiful girl unless one is going to be funny.”

 

[Handley_Page]

From P.G.Wodehouse:-

[1] "The Right Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say “When!” "

[2] "And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need."

 

[Voboy]

"If I show up at your door, it's because you did something to bring me there"
-John Cusack - Grosse Pointe Blank

My favorite movie. "Take care of yourself, Ken, and thank you for the pen."

I've been mulling some quotes to put here, but there are FAR too many good ones in my mind. I feel like I'd need to do a bracket and figure out which was the best to put here.

Good thread.

 

[Polyacrylate]

"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."

-Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

 

[Polyacrylate]

"Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost."

Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: The Wake

 

[SimonDoom]

A few assorted favorite lines from movies:

"Wherever you go, there you are."
-- Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

"We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives."
-- Plan Nine from Out Space

"Let's go get sushi and not pay."
-- Repo Man

"Game over, man. Game over."
-- Aliens

 

[Bramblethorn]

From P.G.Wodehouse:-

[1] "The Right Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say “When!” "

[2] "And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need."

Oh, Wodehouse. So many great lines to choose from.

 

[MisterWildCard]

Another gem by Terry Pratchett:

“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”
- from GOING POSTAL

 

[HectorBidon]

"A further complication is the richness of Czech 'bad language' as compared with our own. In common with other Slavic languages and with German, Czech can boast a wide range of words of abuse in all shades of intensity. We cannot match these in Britain . . . If the reader finds a certain monotony in the words chosen by the translator I hope he will realize that the bandsman has to operate within the limits of his instrument."

--Cecil Parrott, Introduction to The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek

 

[Handley_Page]

I just read this one:-

It sounded like she would rather have had a root canal than admit it.

 

[SamScribble]

'A magnum is the perfect size for two gentlemen to share over lunch, especially if one of them isn't drinking.' - Winston Churchill

 

[SyleusSnow]

Mandatory Douglas Adams:

"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

 

[Hypoxia]

"If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it all over you."

 

[GroverLang]

Bonnie Beddelia at the end of Die Hard 2. “Why does this keep happening to us, John?”

 

[beachbum1958]

Tom Holt-

"I don't consider myself bald, I'm just taller than my hair"

"The conscientious arsonist doesn't just set the building on fire; first he fills the fire extinguishers with petrol" - Open Sesame

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I've always loved this, the whole paragraph is amazing, but I guess this is the most memorable.
“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

And from my favorite movie...
"I'm not a tourist, I'm a Libra." Mick says that in Squirm.

 

[ishtat]

"His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white.
His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death.
Sredni Vashtar the beautiful."

From Sredni Vashtar (Saki - HH Munro)