01UndatedIf you were upset about an ugly pimple on the end of your nose, you might try to feel better by keeping your pimple in perspective. You might compare your pimple situation to that of someone who was being eaten by a bear, and when you looked in the mirror at your ugly pimple, you could say to yourself, 'Well, at least I'm not being eaten by a bear.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
02UndatedWhenever you are examining someone else's belongings, you are bound to learn many interesting things about the person of which you were not previously aware.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
03UndatedOne could say, in fact, that no story really has a beginning, and that no story really has an end, as all of the world's stories are as jumbled as the items in the arboretum, with their details and secrets all heaped together so that the whole story, from beginning to end, depends on how you look at it.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
05UndatedWe are respecting our parents' wishes....They didn't want to shelter us from the world's treacheries. They wanted us to survive them.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
06UndatedThe expression 'Those who can't do, teach' is a curious one, because if you look at the world , you'll see that teachers aren't particularly worse at doing things than anyone else, so perhaps the expression might be better worded as 'nobody can do anythingLemony Snicket / quote ↗
07UndatedBut the law is an odd thing. For instance, one country in Europe has a law that requires all its bakers to sell bread at the exact same price. A certain island has a law that forbids anyone from removing its fruit. And a town not too far from where you live has a law that bars me from coming within five miles of its borders.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
10UndatedYou write poetry?" Klaus asked.He had read a lot about poets but had never met one."Just a little bit," Isadora said modestly. "I write poems down in this notebook. It's an interest of mine.""Sappho!" Sunny shrieked, which meant something like, "I'd be very pleased to hear a poem of yours!Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
11UndatedLike many people who dress in black, the lump of coal was interested in becoming an artist.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
12UndatedA long time ago, there was no such thing as school, and children spent their days learning a trade, a phrase which here means "standing around doing tedious tasks under the instruction of a bossy adult." In time, however, people realized that the children could be allowed to sit, and the first school was invented.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
13UndatedThere's nothing wrong with athletics, but they shouldn't get in the way of your schoolwork.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
14UndatedThat night was a dark day. Of course, all nights are dark days, because night is simply a badly lit version of day, ...Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
15UndatedI think everyone's parents have secrets. You just have to know where to look for them.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
16UndatedReader: Dear Mr. Snicket, What is the best way to keep a secret? Lemony Snicket : Tell it to everyone you know, but pretend you are kidding.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
17UndatedWe both wanted to know each other's secrets, and we both wanted the other person to go first.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
19UndatedThe world is swirling with so many mysteries and secrets that nobody will ever track down all of them. But with a book you can stay up very late, reading until all the secrets are clear to you. The questions of the world are hidden forever, but the answers in a book are hiding in plain sight.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
20UndatedThere are two good reasons to put your napkin in your lap. One is that food might spill in your lap, and it is better to stain the napkin than your clothing. The other is that it can serve as a perfect hiding place. Practically nobody is nosey enough to take the napkin off a lap to see what is hidden there.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
21UndatedIf only Uncle Monty knew what we know," Violet said, "and Stephano knew that he knew what we know. But Uncle Monty doesn't know what we know, and Stephano knows that he doesn't know what we know.""I know," Klause said."I know you know," Violet saidLemony Snicket / quote ↗
22UndatedSimply put, dramatic irony is when a person makes a harmless remark, and someone else who hears it knows something that makes the remark have a different, and usually unpleasant, meaning. For instance, if you were in a restaurant and said out loud, "I can't wait to eat the veal marsala I ordered," and there were people around who knew that the veal marsala was poisoned and that you would die as soon as you took a bite, your situation would be one of dramatic irony.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
23UndatedMoxie gave me a small smile. "Why do you always say that- which here means?""I'll probably outgrow it," I said.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
24UndatedBeing curious is the most important part of being a journalist. It might be the most important part of being anything.Lemony Snicket / quote ↗
