《双城记》的开头第一句话是：

"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, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair； we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

这句话是查尔斯·狄更斯在《双城记》中开篇的第一句话，它以强烈的对比和丰富的象征意义，描绘了故事发生时代的复杂性和矛盾性。这句话也体现了狄更斯对人性、时代变迁和社会动荡的深刻洞察。