Clichés are clichés for a reason - someone did something good and others followed.

Vivaldi - Violin concerto in Am RV356 (3rd mvmt)
Beethoven - Piano Sonata #8 in Cm (3rd mvmt)
<At least one more Piano Sonata by Beethoven>
Malmsteen - Crash and Burn
Gary Moore - Still Got the Blues
I'm sure you can think of several others (feel free to post them here!).

Consider the following sequence of four opening notes: C-F-G-Ab.
Or root-4h-5th-m6th.
Or even 5th-root-2nd-m3rd.
Transposed to the key of your choice.
All of the above examples begin with the same four notes (relative to each other).

Which other well-used mini-themes can you think of?
Which are your favorites?
Do you find yourself ending up in any of these patterns when imporvising?