As Emily says, it is the opening line to a Tale of Two Cities. It is also considered one of the finest opening lines of any novel ever written. Why? because it is an antithesis statement, or in other words, a statement such as “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” To say it was the best of times “and” the worst of times implies a dicotomy that exists at “any time”. One might say that the statement is as true today as it was when it was first written, and therefore, a statement for the ages. Regardless of how the rest of the story is told, the opening stands above almost any other novel’s opening as saying the most in the fewest words, especially in defining a critical observation of the human condition.

It’s a quote from the opening lines of Charles Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities.

This is a famous quote from a Charles Dickens novel,

“A Tale of Two Cities.” The book is well worth reading.

It’s a Quote;

Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities ( 1859 )

It is the first line in A Tale Of Two Cities, a novel by Charles Dickens.

It’s a quote from Charles Dickens

It’s from Tale of Two Cities by Chuckie Dickens.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity . . . Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

It is a quote – the opening line in a novel.

It’s the opening line in a book – A Tale of Two Cities…I think. You can use it for analogies – or life lessons, however, it is the first sentance of a book.