For openers

I've never seriously thought that I could write a novel. I don't think my thoughts are organised or thorough enough for a start, and I've never had a good idea for a story.

But, when my brain isn't occupied with anything else, it will mull over what the first line of my novel would be, should I write one. I think it's hoping that one day it will hit on the perfect sentence that will be full of the promise of literary greatness. I'm not holding out too much hope...

I wonder if the opening line of a novel is important. Is it ever the 'clincher' that makes you buy the book? I never read the beginning of a book before I buy it - I go purely from the blurb on the back - but I'm sure there must be plenty of famous first lines. The only one I can think of is "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" and I'd love to know how much thought Daphne du Maurier put into this. Did she write it down and think "Oh, that'll do", or did she start with "I had a dream last night that I was back at the house" and go from there?

I'm inspired to head over to my bookshelves and pick out 10 of my favourites. Have you any idea what they are from the first sentence or two...?

Updated with clues for the trickier ones...
1 - "The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home." (Starting with an easy one...)

2 - "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."
Written by a Bronte and featuring a secret mad wife.

3 - "The Boulevard du Cange was a broad, quiet street that marked the eastern flank of the city of Amiens."
Set in the First World War and quite the most evocative book of that time I've ever read.

4 - "My suffering left me sad and gloomy."
A Booker Prize winner, it's the story of a boy, a tiger, a zebra, a hyena and an orang-utan. In a boat.

5 - "Mary Ann Singleton was twenty-five years old when she saw San Francisco for the first time."

6 - "The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years - if it ever did end - began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."

7 - "When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared around them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun."
Terence Stamp and Julie Christie starred in the movie version, and it features every shepherd's worst nightmare!

8 - "It seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the expedition that has been preoccupying my imagination now for some days."
A heart-rending tale of unrequited love. Made into a Oscar-nominated movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

9 - "There were four of us - George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency."
10 - "Mrs Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September - a Thursday. I was sent for at eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been dead some hours."
In my opinion, the best novel from the queen of crime. I'm sure Columbo was inspired by this book...

No prizes for correct answers, except the respect of your peers. And feel free to reciprocate!