Beginnings and Endings

There are a number of sites primarily concerned with books and literary matters. Obviously, I've been reading the Bookslut for quite a while. I recently came across another one that I liked - Maud Newton. I particularly enjoyed two posts she made listing some of her favorite first lines from novels. Naturally, I thought of some of my own favorites in turn. (Or I coped her - whatever). Offhand I'd go with:

"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad."
Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
Neuromancer, William Gibson

"This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought single-handed, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment. Darzee, the Tailorbird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice, but Rikki-tikki did the real fighting."
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling

"It was my devil's own temper that brought me to grief, my temper and a skill with weapons born of my father's teachings."
Sackett's Land, Louis L'Amour

"In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more."
In Another Country, Ernest Hemingway

"The candleflame and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door. He took off his hat and came slowly forward."
All The Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy.

So, what are some of your favorite firsts?

Or better yet, what about last lines? I can't immediately recall any striking or memorable last lines from novels (or shorts), but that doesn't mean they're not out there.