Top Ten Pick-Up Lines in Literature

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For the Power of Words, I give you Exhibit A: Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman, The Crucibleand Marilyn Monroe.

As Exhibit B: Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses, Midnight’s Children and Padma Lakshmi.

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I could go on.

Here are ten great lines from literature that just might help you get lucky, too. 

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1.  “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

– From The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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2.  “What holds the world together, as I have learned from bitter experience, is sexual intercourse.”

–  From Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

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3.  “I used to think marriage was a plate-glass window just begging for a brick.”

–  From Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

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4.  “I seemed like a baby bird keeping its truly innocent animal lusts hidden under its wing. I was being tempted, not by the desire of possession, but simply by unadorned temptation itself.”

–  From Confessions of a Mask by Yuko Mishima (yep, that’s really him)

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5.  “If you ask me what I want, I’ll tell you. I want everything.”

– From Pussy, King of the Pirates by Kathy Acker

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6.  “The first breath of adultery is the freest.”

-From Couples by John Updike

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7.  “Stuff me in a tutu and let’s screen experimental videos all day.”

–  From The Ask by Sam Lipstye

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8.  “He was now in that state of fire that she loved. She wanted to be burnt.”

–  From Delta of Venus by Anais Nin

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9.  “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.”

–  From Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

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10.  “A little she strove, and much repented, / And whispering, ‘I will ne’er consent’ — consented.”

–  From Don Juan by Lord Byron