What is your most favorite sentence ever?

[Stacy]

Mine is in this song.

Fisticuffs - Primus

"A gaping gash in his arm had drained him down to hell."

OMG OMG OMG I cannot express in words the beauty...

Look at all those hard a's. And the alliteration of "gaping" and "gash" and then "drained" and "down"...and now that I look at it, "had" and "him" and "hell". And of course, the imagery - wonderfully beautifully imagined. And the rhythm...

Sigh. One day I will write a sentence as perfectly put together.

Anyone else have examples of beautiful sentences? What do you think makes them beautiful?

[raquelaroden]

It's gotta be something from Charlotte Bronte for me. This one comes to mind, but in Villette I'm sure I read some that were better:

"Because," he said, "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to
you--especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a
string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably
knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of
your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred
miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of
communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should
take to bleeding inwardly. As for you,--you'd forget me." Jane Eyre, chapter 23.

[celebkiriedhel]

I love both those two sentences! I remember swooning over the Jane Eyre one the first time I heard it.

Here's my favourite:

This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously to heaven.

Chapter 1, Titus Groan. Mervyn Peake.

Reading Titus Groan is like eating a rich chocolate cake. Every sentence is full of imagery. I'm a speed reader and can devour a book in a day when the wind is right, but Titus Groan (and it's follow ups) is the sort of book I can only read a page or two at a time then have to go off to properly digest and enjoy all the imagery.

[tesseracta]

I don't know what my favorite is, but the first one that popped into my head from a book was from Lewis Carol's Through the Looking Glass:

"’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."

And thinking about this made me think of one of my favorite lyrics, which is from Elvis Costello's song Beyond Belief:

"So in this almost empty gin palace, through a two-way looking glass, you see your Alice"

[pinkfiend1]

I couldn't find the sentance I first thought of but this one is better I think.
"I live in torture, thinking of these moments. With every look he gives you, I get sicker and sicker. There is a burning in me I feel on fire, and there's guilt I can't comidify. Does it make you happy to know that?" Tristan from the film Tristan and Isolde.

[laura]

Oh wow, a favorite sentence? Stacy, you truly are a poet! I have to say, I don't really notice individual sentences in novels, but I do in poetry and songwriting.

Isn't that strange? Me, a writer, crafting sentences, and I openly admit that I don't vividly remember the well-crafted sentences in even my favorite works of fiction? Why is that? It kind of makes me sad, lol! And hopeless, since that'll mean most other people won't remember my own painfully-crafted sentences when they read them, but instead, spout off song lyrics from memory. Maybe novels just aren't meant to be taken in that way?

But anyway, one favorite sentence? It'd probably come from a song. Tori Amos, or Led Zeppelin, or Ingrid Michaelson, or Pink Floyd, or Alanis Morissette, or Radiohead. Just one?

Well hey, since this is basically one giant run on sentence, this is the one I pick From "Fitter, Happier," by Radiohead.

Fitter, happier, more productive,
comfortable,
not drinking too much,
regular exercise at the gym
(3 days a week),
getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries,
at ease,
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats),
a patient better driver,
a safer car
(baby smiling in back seat),
sleeping well
(no bad dreams),
no paranoia,
careful to all animals
(never washing spiders down the plughole),
keep in contact with old friends
(enjoy a drink now and then),
will frequently check credit at
(moral) bank (hole in the wall),
favors for favors,
fond but not in love,
charity standing orders,
on Sundays ring road supermarket
(no killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants),
car wash
(also on Sundays),
no longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows
nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate,
nothing so childish - at a better pace,
slower and more calculated,
no chance of escape,
now self-employed,
concerned (but powerless),
an empowered and informed member of society
(pragmatism not idealism),
will not cry in public,
less chance of illness,
tires that grip in the wet
(shot of baby strapped in back seat),
a good memory,
still cries at a good film,
still kisses with saliva,
no longer empty and frantic
like a cat
tied to a stick,
that's driven into
frozen winter shit
(the ability to laugh at weakness),
calm,
fitter,
healthier and more productive
a pig
in a cage
on antibiotics.

[mdpthatsme]

I don't have a favorite sentence from another author...but if I was to go through all of my writing to find my favorite sentence I would probably choose this one:

Though, I’ll admit, I was a little paranoid that he’d be fumed with me that I never asked permission to frolic in his studies. Mercy was upon me.

It's from a manuscript of Nova's childhood.

[Stacy]

Oct 2, 2010 14:34:17 GMT -5 mdpthatsme said:

I don't have a favorite sentence from another author...but if I was to go through all of my writing to find my favorite sentence I would probably choose this one:

Though, I’ll admit, I was a little paranoid that he’d be fumed with me that I never asked permission to frolic in his studies. Mercy was upon me.

It's from a manuscript of Nova's childhood.

That is a great sentence! I love the word "frolic".

[Stacy]

Sept 24, 2010 21:36:29 GMT -5 @raquelaroden said:

It's gotta be something from Charlotte Bronte for me. This one comes to mind, but in Villette I'm sure I read some that were better:

"Because," he said, "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to
you--especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a
string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably
knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of
your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred
miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of
communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should
take to bleeding inwardly. As for you,--you'd forget me." Jane Eyre, chapter 23.

You know Jane Eyre is my most favorite book ever of all time, so I heartily agree with this - I actually quoted that paragraph in an email to John once.

Ah, Villette - I haven't read it in years. I don't even know if I could find my copy now.

[sb]

From Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard:

We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty, violence..."Seems like we're just set down here," a woman said to me recently, "and don't nobody know why."

[Stacy]

Oct 2, 2010 17:15:49 GMT -5 @sb said:

From Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard:

We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty, violence..."Seems like we're just set down here," a woman said to me recently, "and don't nobody know why."

I LOVE that! I'm all about me some mystery and death and beauty and violence!

Thank you - sharing that sentence has made me better. And that's why we write and share our writing, isn't it? Because sharing makes us better. Opening a window into another person's soul brings more light into our own.

[Stacy]

Sept 24, 2010 22:52:33 GMT -5 @celebkiriedhel said:

I love both those two sentences! I remember swooning over the Jane Eyre one the first time I heard it.

Here's my favourite:

This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously to heaven.

Chapter 1, Titus Groan. Mervyn Peake.

Reading Titus Groan is like eating a rich chocolate cake. Every sentence is full of imagery. I'm a speed reader and can devour a book in a day when the wind is right, but Titus Groan (and it's follow ups) is the sort of book I can only read a page or two at a time then have to go off to properly digest and enjoy all the imagery.

OMG OMG OMG! I have the trilogy on my own bookcase and I've read the first one but haven't gotten to the other two yet. And you're right - it is beautiful. And it took me a bit to get through it too.

And that particular sentence is a perfect example of how adverbs CAN work.

[Stacy]

Sept 24, 2010 23:06:06 GMT -5 tesseracta said:

I don't know what my favorite is, but the first one that popped into my head from a book was from Lewis Carol's Through the Looking Glass:

"’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."

And thinking about this made me think of one of my favorite lyrics, which is from Elvis Costello's song Beyond Belief:

"So in this almost empty gin palace, through a two-way looking glass, you see your Alice"

I've always loved that poem too - such wonderful rhymes, and I am always in awe of people who make up their own words when the language they're writing in has no word that will suffice and yet it is still easy to read and the readers still enjoy it - I admit things like A Clockwork Orange are a little hard for me to get into.

And that's a lovely song lyric - I'm guessing you're a big Alice in Wonderland fan?

OOOH! I know a Sims 2 machinima you might enjoy if you haven't seen it already. Played it a lot around the time I was writing the Silence and Suspect bits of Valley.

Eat Me, Drink Me, done by OneJovialSim.

[sb]

I had another sentence in mind, searched everywhere for it, and, once I'd found it a few minutes ago...

It's interesting. A phrase that stuck with me for years and years, since I was a small child...things look different when you get older. Don't they?

[Stacy]

Sept 25, 2010 14:54:00 GMT -5 pinkfiend1 said:

I couldn't find the sentance I first thought of but this one is better I think.
"I live in torture, thinking of these moments. With every look he gives you, I get sicker and sicker. There is a burning in me I feel on fire, and there's guilt I can't comidify. Does it make you happy to know that?" Tristan from the film Tristan and Isolde.

I should check out that movie - I do like the legend. I remember writing an essay about it for the AG class in 8th grade - I also remember that the student teacher who graded it said that I was a very honest writer.

It's a sentence full of fire (which, of course, I have a weakness for) and desire (which, of course, so many song writers have taken advantage of that felicitous rhyme) and want and angst, and oh - it's like the sentence equivalent of rows of candy in a candy store. I love it!

[Stacy]

Sept 30, 2010 19:06:34 GMT -5 @laura said:

Oh wow, a favorite sentence? Stacy, you truly are a poet! I have to say, I don't really notice individual sentences in novels, but I do in poetry and songwriting.

Isn't that strange? Me, a writer, crafting sentences, and I openly admit that I don't vividly remember the well-crafted sentences in even my favorite works of fiction? Why is that? It kind of makes me sad, lol! And hopeless, since that'll mean most other people won't remember my own painfully-crafted sentences when they read them, but instead, spout off song lyrics from memory. Maybe novels just aren't meant to be taken in that way?

But anyway, one favorite sentence? It'd probably come from a song. Tori Amos, or Led Zeppelin, or Ingrid Michaelson, or Pink Floyd, or Alanis Morissette, or Radiohead. Just one?

Well hey, since this is basically one giant run on sentence, this is the one I pick From "Fitter, Happier," by Radiohead.

Fitter, happier, more productive,
comfortable,
not drinking too much,
regular exercise at the gym
(3 days a week),
getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries,
at ease,
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats),
a patient better driver,
a safer car
(baby smiling in back seat),
sleeping well
(no bad dreams),
no paranoia,
careful to all animals
(never washing spiders down the plughole),
keep in contact with old friends
(enjoy a drink now and then),
will frequently check credit at
(moral) bank (hole in the wall),
favors for favors,
fond but not in love,
charity standing orders,
on Sundays ring road supermarket
(no killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants),
car wash
(also on Sundays),
no longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows
nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate,
nothing so childish - at a better pace,
slower and more calculated,
no chance of escape,
now self-employed,
concerned (but powerless),
an empowered and informed member of society
(pragmatism not idealism),
will not cry in public,
less chance of illness,
tires that grip in the wet
(shot of baby strapped in back seat),
a good memory,
still cries at a good film,
still kisses with saliva,
no longer empty and frantic
like a cat
tied to a stick,
that's driven into
frozen winter shit
(the ability to laugh at weakness),
calm,
fitter,
healthier and more productive
a pig
in a cage
on antibiotics.

I have decided that I love you. So now I must go and hide under your porch.

But - but your sentences are so lovely! In the comment that Blogger ate, on the Jodie-centered update, I pointed out some of your lovely alliteration and imagery.

I saw Ingrid Michaelson in concert once - she opened for Josh Ritter the first time we saw him here, at the Visulite Theater.

OMG, Josh Ritter - I shall have to make a separate post in this thread about him and his songs. And he has a novel coming out soon! Can't wait to read it, because man - dude can write.

You should check him out - we have pretty similar musical taste, I think. Hmm, good starter Josh Ritter song to suggest...let me ask John, because John's the super Ritter fan.

He suggested this one.

Kathleen

Lillian, Egypt is one of my favorites and I can see Jason relating it to Lilith.

You can stream all of his stuff at his website - Josh Ritter.

And yeah - I think that's why I still sort of balk at an idea of a novel and like to write my sort of sequential flash fiction thing, lol. I work best in small spaces.

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Radiohead! SO MUCH!!!!

That song in particular - I have the CD and listen to it at work sometimes, and I quoted it to John the other day because I actually read something about "happier and more productive" in some advertisement - wonder if the copywriter was thinking of it?

Good choice! *hugs*

[Stacy]

Oct 2, 2010 19:13:31 GMT -5 @sb said:

I had another sentence in mind, searched everywhere for it, and, once I'd found it a few minutes ago...

It's interesting. A phrase that stuck with me for years and years, since I was a small child...things look different when you get older. Don't they?

Oh wow - what is it with you and life-changing sentences?

A reminder that we're all works in progress, all in constant change, all sifting through ourselves and trying to discard what we don't want and nurture and grow the bits we do want.

Things are always looking different.

[sb]

Ok now I have to tell what the sentence was

"The glimmer on the far sea moved, light and following shadow, like the slow arc of a sword sliding back to its sheath, or a barge dwindling under sail across the distant water."

The Last Enchantment. Mary Stewart.

[celebkiriedhel]

That is a beautiful sentence Beth. It certainly evokes the going home of Arthur, the job completed.

[sb]

it stuck with me...the sky, the sword, the job completed...well because he was dead but put into the mythopoeic context, it does fit.