Last week Reddit user TheRealNayef asked users to answer this question: "What's the most beautiful paragraph or sentence you've ever read?" The inspiration? The first paragraph of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita:
I just read the first page of Lolita, and it was just so good that I put it down and appreciated it.
"Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita."
I can't think of anything else that is this beautiful... Maybe the start of Fahrenheit 451.
Reddit users responded, and now the thread has nearly 4,000 upvotes and 4,713 comments. Here is just a small selection of their picks.
1. This selection from Gary Provost's 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing received 4,436 upvotes. It's not hard to see why.
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2. Winnie the Pooh got a lot of love.
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6. The Little Prince broke hearts.
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7. W.S. Merwin *really* broke hearts.
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8. Julian Barnes made us think about time in a whole new way.
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9. Douglas Adams was a definite favorite of Reddit users.
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13. The Great Gatsby charmed, old sport.
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14. Haruki Murakami mended hearts, and broke them all over again.
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16. Gabriel Garcia Marquez wowed with his masterful prose.
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17. Italo Calvino made heads spin.
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18. Carl Sagan caused some tears to fall.
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19. Watchmen reminded us of the fragility of life.
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20. Charlotte Bronte made users want to fall in love.
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23. Charles Dickens made the night sky a little sadder.
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24. Albert Camus gave a whole new perspective on Sisyphus.
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25. Neil Gaiman's words made an appearance, of course.
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27. Terry Pratchett :(
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30. Jack London showed how even animals can experience love.
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31. Ernest Hemingway's to-the-point prose made users swoon.
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33. Herman Melville made a rainy November day sound poetic.
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34. Victor Hugo's words put God in a new light.
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35. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock made even loneliness seem beautiful.
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36. Kurt Vonnegut captured hearts and made everyone want to re-read all his books.
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39. Cormac McCarthy's command of prose demanded users' rapt attention.
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40. The Iliad inspired friendly debate over which translation was the most beautiful.
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44. John Green described love in the best possible way.
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45. James Joyce took readers to unsurpassed narrative heights.
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