You would run much slower if you were dragging something behind you, like a knapsack or a sheriff.

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

For Beatrice, when we met, my life began. Soon afterwards, yours ended.

But like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so.

If one’s safety is threatened, one often finds courage one didn’t know one had, and the eldest Baudelaire found she could be brave enough to open the door.

Thinking about something is like picking up a stone when taking a walk, either while skipping rocks on the beach, for example, or looking for a way to shatter the glass doors of a museum....

All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk.

A 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...

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...

I am heartbroken, but I have been heartbroken before, and this might be the best for which I can hope.

You cannot wait for an untroubled world to have an untroubled moment. The terrible phone call, the rainstorm, the sinister knock on the door—they will all come. Soon enough arrive the treacherous villain and the...

They were almond cookies, although they could have been made of spinach and shoes for all I cared. I ate eleven of them, right in a row. It is rude to take the last cookie.

If 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...

Pero las leyes son un poco raras. Por ejemplo, un país de Asia tiene una ley que obliga a que todas las bicicletas tengan las ruedas del mismo tamaño. Una isla tiene una ley que...

Sunny held Kit, and Violet held Klaus, and for a minute the four castaways did nothing but weep, letting their tears run down their faces and into the sea, which some have said is nothing...

Just about everything in this world is easier said than done, with the exception of “systematically assisting Sisyphus’s stealthy, cyst-susceptible sister,” which is easier done than said.

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...

As she worked, she remembered something her parents had said to her when Klaus was born, and against when they brought Sunny home from the hospital. ‘you are the eldest Baudelaire child,’ they had said,...

Are you saying that being a criminal is a matter of opinion?” I asked.Qwerty smiled, but it was sad around the edges. “No,” he said. “It’s a matter of handcuffs.

This is an absurd moral, for you and I both know that sometimes not only is it good to lie, it is necessary to lie.

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.

You cannot have a really terrific library without at least one terrific librarian, the way you cannot have a really terrific bedroom unless you can lock the door.