Because endings, too, can be so good.
1. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both. (Charlotte’s Web)
2. We talked of what was to come. And of the lost art of keeping secrets. (The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets)
3. “‘God’s in His heaven, all’s right with the world,'” whispered Anne softly. (Anne of Green Gables)
4. And now we’ll all go swimming. (No Children, No Pets)
5. Only the margin left to write on now. I love you, I love you, I love you. (I Capture the Castle)
6. “Music I heard with you was more than music, and bread I broke with you was more than bread.” Yes. And always will be. (Two-Part Invention)
7. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy. (A Moveable Feast)
8. “Well, I’m back,” he said. (The Return of the King)
9. She could feel the Big Hill looking down as the Crowd danced at Tib’s wedding in the chocolate-colored house. (Betsy’s Wedding)
10. The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well. (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
What are your favorite last lines?
cakes, tea and dreams 
I so love this series, Katie. I will have to look through the notebook in which I write my favorite lines from books and pick my favorite. Maybe you should even do a “favorite lines from books” regardless of beginnings or endings post too! Also, I miss you…
“The thing that comes to my house does not come every night. But it comes most nights. We know it by the wounds on the cat and the pain I can see in those leonine eyes. He’s lost the use of his front-left paw and his right eye has closed for good. I wonder what we did to deserve the black cat. I wonder who sent him. And, selfish, and scared, I wonder how much more he has to give.” (The Price, a lovely, sad short story by Neil Gaiman about a cat (or perhaps an angel in the guise of a cat) that protects his master’s family from the devil)
“”The term is over. The holidays have begun. The dream is ended. This is the morning.” And as he spoke, he no longer looked like a lion, but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last, they were beginning Chapter One of The Great Story, which no one on Earth has read, which goes on, forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle)
I also have to go with The Return of the King. It’s fitting that Sam have the last word of all.
“And I’ll find some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day!” (Gone With the Wind). Absolutely immortal.
Ah, yes. Last lines. I think of that Anne one all the time.
I love that last line from The Return of the King – so fitting! Also, the last paragraph from The Chronicles of Narnia…
I missed sharing my favorite first line, so I’m just going to add it here: “Once upon a time – which, when you come to think of it, is really the only proper way to begin a story – the only way that really smacks of romance and fairyland – all the Harmony members of the Lesley clan had assembled at Cloud of Spruce to celebrate Old Grandmother’s birthday as usual.” (Magic for Marigold, L.M. Montgomery)
Best last line I’ve read recently is from South of Superior by Ellen Airgood: “She watched in anticipation for what would happen next.”
I love Charlotte’s Web, but Anne and Sam also are lovely. No, I’ll stick with Wilbur’s sentiments in the narrator’s voice. I’m so looking forward to my kids getting just a tiny bit older!
Considering I just recently wrote a blog post about the last line of Charlotte’s Web, I’ll have to go with that one too. Here’s my post if you’re interested: http://leahsthoughts.com/2011/08/30/charlottes-web-and-the-power-of-words/