Every story begins with an opening line. Childhood fairy tales will start with the line “once upon a time,” which alerts the reader that they are entering a world of make-believe.

Opening lines are crucial to any column and any piece of literature. The opening line performs many duties. It establishes the voice of the author, invites the reader into a new world filled with conflicts and problems that will need a hero to fix. When done well, great first lines in literature remain embedded in the human mind.

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” is the opening of “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens, who takes us to the turbulent time of the French Revolution and to the cities of London and Paris. “I am Ishmael” is the first thing we hear as we begin “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville. This line introduces us to a simple traveler who is about to enter into the journey of his life by joining Captain Ahab and his crew, who are in search of the great killer whale Moby Dick.

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy” is the way Homer introduced us to the “The Odyssey.” Odysseus has just sacked Troy and attempts to get home to Penelope but seems ill-fated because he has stirred the wrath of the god Poseidon.
These openers stir the imagination and invite us to read on.

There is no such thing as a great opening line in film, but they do offer opening scenes. Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” starred Robert De Niro, who played Jake LaMotta, has one of the best opening sequences in film history. The heavenly music of Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” is playing, and you see three lines of rope which surround a boxing ring. Inside the ropes is a hooded Robert De Niro shot in slow motion as he dances and shadow boxes with a mist around him. This astoundingly beautiful scene, shot in black and white, introduces you to what comes next, which is the most violent boxing film ever made.

The paradox this scene sets up, beauty vs. violence, reminded me of the paradox of great opening lines in literature like “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It is unfair to compare opening lines in literature with anything you see or hear in films, because movie lines are supported by handsome actors, great music, genius directors and stunning cinematography.

I watched “Top Gun: Maverick” today and it was a marvel to behold, jam packed with wonderful lines and American exceptionalism but, hey, anything that comes out of the mouth of the smiling, handsome, forever young Mr. Cruise is going to sound pretty good. Lines like “You don’t have time to think up there. If you think, you’re dead.” Or when people kept saying to him throughout the film “I don’t like that look, man,” and he would answer “it’s the only one I got.”

Perhaps I’m jealous. I don’t have great music, cinematography or a handsome actor to say my lines in a column, but then again, I don’t have to pay Tom Cruise the $25 million that he makes per film.

First lines in literature are what the Swiss psychoanalyst  Carl Jung called the liminal space or the doorway into another realm. Great first lines are remembered because like the first date, the first bite of a meal or the first shot in a round of golf, it provides a brief taste of the adventure one is about to embark upon. First lines of a book are like the darkening of the lights in a theater where you let go of your real life and plunge into another world.

The opening lines of “The Divine Comedy” begin:
“Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray
From the straight road and woke to find myself
Alone in a dark wood. How shall I say
What wood that was!”

It was in that dreary forest, alone and frightened, that Dante found Virgil, who guided him out to the woods, through hell and finally up to heaven where he finally found some happiness and peace.

In life, we are all in the dark woods, alone and frightened. And it is a blessing that great writers can create opening lines like “I am Ishmael,” which shed light upon where we must go. They serve as lanterns that are held before us as we all try to stumble and grope our way toward happiness. That is the magical power of the written word.

So contrary to what Tom “Top Gun” Cruise said, we do have “time to think up there” and thinking will not kill us. Often it can make us feel better.