Look!” Mr. Poe said, who was still too far to help but close enough to see. “Genghis has an eye tattoo, like Count Olaf! In fact, I think he IS Count Olaf!””Of course he is!” Violet cried, holding up the unraveled turban.”Merd!” Sunny shrieked, holding up a tiny piece of shoelace. She meant something like...

…you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.

The sky was dark blue twilight, pretty to look at but lonely to walk under.

In some stories, it’s easy. The moral of “The Three Bears,” for instance, is “Never break into someone else’s house.” The moral of “Snow White” is “Never eat apples.” The moral of World War One is “Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand.

Count Olaf sounds like an awful person. I hope he is torn apart by wild animals someday. Wouldn’t that be satisfying?

The key to good eavesdropping is not getting caught.

In the meantime, it is best to grab what wonderful moments you find lying around.

She took Sunny’s coat off, and then her own, and dropped them both on the floor. Normally, of course, one should hang up one’s coat on a hook or in a closet, but itchy hives are very irritating and tend to make one abandon such matters.

Es inútil que os describa lo mal que se sintieron Violet, Klaus y Sunny el tiempo que siguió. Si habéis perdido a alguien muy importante para vosotros, ya sabéis lo que se siente; y, si nunca habéis perdido nadie, no os lo podéis imaginar.

Cualquiera que conociese a Violet se hubiera dado cuenta de que estaba pensando intensamente, porque llevaba la larga melena recogida con una cinta para que no se le metiera en los ojos. Violet tenía el don de inventar y construir extraños aparatos, y su cerebro se veía inundado a menudo con imágenes de poleas, palancas...

Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.

I think everyone’s parents have secrets. You just have to know where to look for them.

But there are times in this harum-scarum world when figuring out the right thing to do is quite simple, but doing the right thing is simply impossible….

There 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...

Pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity.

As I am sure you know, when people say ‘It’s my pleasure,’ they usually mean something along the lines of, ‘There’s nothing on Earth I would rather do less.’ […]

For some stories, it’s easy. The moral of ‘The Three Bears,’ for instance, is “Never break into someone else’s house.’ The moral of ‘Snow White’ is ‘Never eat apples.’ The moral of World War I is ‘Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand.

A passport, as I’m sure you know, is a document that one shows to government officials whenever one reaches a border between two countries, so that the official can learn who you are, where you were born, and how you look when photographed unflatteringly.

Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.

Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.

The world is quiet here.

An Overall Feeling of Doom that One Cannot Ever Escape no Matter What One Does

Anyone who knew Violet well could tell she was thinking hard, because her long hair was tied up in a ribbon to keep it out of her eyes. Violet had a real knack for inventing and building strange devices, so her brain was often filled with images of pulleys, levers, and gears, and she never...

All his life, Klaus had believed that if you read enough books, you could solve any problem, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Like many people who dress in black, the lump of coal was interested in becoming an artist.

At times the world may seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe that there is much more good in it than bad. All you have to do is look hard enough. and what might seem to be a series of unfortunate events may in fact be the first steps of a journey.

Nobody wants to fall into a safety net, because it means the structure in which they’ve been living is in a state of collapse and they have no choice but to tumble downwards. However, it beats the alternative.

The Baudelaire orphans hung on to one another, and wept and wept while the adults argued endlessly behind them. Finally-as, I’m sorry to say, Count Olaf forced the Quagmires into puppy costumes so he could sneak them onto the airplane without anyone noticing-the Baudelaires cried themselves out and just sat on the lawn together in...

It is a curious thing, but as one travels the world getting older and older, it appears that happiness is easier to get used to than despair. The second time you have a root beer float, for instance, your happiness at sipping the delicious concoction may not be quite as enormous as when you first...

It is difficult, when faced with a situation you cannot control, to admit you can do nothing.

There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.

The trouble with being patient is that eventually you get tired of it.

Some people think destiny is something you cannot escape, such as death or a curdled cheesecake, both of which always turn up sooner or later.

Boredom is not black licorice, Snicket,” she said. “There’s no reason to share it with me.

The children nodded in agreement, and rose from the table. Leaving their dirty breakfast dishes behind, which is not a good thing to do in general but perfectly acceptable in the face of an emergency.

La adopción es una decisión muy importante, algo que no suele suceder de forma impulsiva. Estoy seguro de que vosotros habéis deseado en algún momento de vuestra vida haber sido educados por gente distinta a la que os está educando, pero en el fondo de vuestro corazón sabíais que las posibilidades eran mínimas.

Los peores sitios del mundo se pueden soportar si la gente que allí habita es interesante y amable.

But even if they could go home it would be difficult for me to tell you what the moral of the story is. In some stories, it’s easy. The moral of ‘The Three Bears’, for instance, is “Never break into someone else’s house”. The moral of ‘Snow White’ is “Never eat apples”. The moral of...

With a library it is easier to hope for serendipity than to look for a precise answer.

But 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...

Criminals should be punished, not fed pastries.

Inside these letters, the eye will seeNearby are your friends, and VFD.

In any case, this is how all our stories begin, in darkness with our eyes closed, and all our stories end the same way, too, with all of us uttering some last words—or perhaps someone else’s—before slipping back into darkness as our series of unfortunate events comes to an end.

It is always better to ask a question than to answer one.

Si conocieseis al Conde Olaf y éste de repente os sirviese el desayuno, ,no temeríais que contuviese algo terrible, como veneno o cristal hecho añicos?

pero es una triste realidad de la vida que, cuando alguien ha perdido a un ser querido, a veces los amigos le esquivan, justo en el momento en que su presencia es mucho más necesaria.

Seguro que sabéis que cuando uno está en su propia habitación, en su propia cama, una situación triste puede mejorar un poco

Tu opinión inicial acerca de casi cualquier cosa puede cambiar con el paso del tiempo.

Así pues, a menos que hayáis sido muy, muy afortunados, sabréis que una buena y larga sesión de llanto a menudo puede haceros sentir mejor, aunque vuestras circunstancias no hayan cambiado lo más mínimo.

It is one of life’s bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are really getting interesting.