The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town. Michael Ondaatje
They say the first sentence in any speech is always the hardest. Well, that one's behind me, anyway. Wisława Szymborska
The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace. Jhumpa Lahiri
What's so hard about that first sentence is that you're stuck with it. Everything else is going to flow out of that sentence. And by the time you've laid down the first two sentences, your options are all gone. Joan Didion
Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes. Jacques Barzun
The category of first sentence makes sense only if it is looking forward to the development of thematic concerns it perhaps only dimly foreshadows. Stanley Fish