Unless you have been very, very lucky, you have undoubtedly experienced events in your life that have made you cry. So unless you have been very, very lucky, you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Crying
If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice, “Well, this isn’t too bad. I don’t have my left arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me whether I am right-handed or left-handed,” but most of us would say something more along the lines of “Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!”
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Optimism
Waiting is one of life’s hardships.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Haste
In general, of course, a stranger who tries to get you into an automobile is anything but noble, and in general a person who quotes great American novelists is anything but treacherous, and in general a man who says you needn’t worry about money, or a man who smokes cigarettes, is somewhere in between.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: People
Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Fate
Temper tantrums, however fun they may be to throw, rarely solve whatever problem is causing them.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Anger
One wanders through life as if wandering through a field in the dark of night, wearing a blindfold and very heavy shoes, with a poisonous toad waiting patiently beneath a clump of weeds, knowing full well that eventually you will step on him.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Life
Deciding whether or not to trust a person is like deciding whether or not to climb a tree, because you might get a wonderful view from the highest branch, or you might simply get covered in sap, and for this reason many people choose to spend their time alone and indoors, where it is harder to get a splinter.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Trust
One cannot spend forever sitting and solving the mysteries of one’s history.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Topics: Self-Discovery
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Cynthia Ozick American Novelist, Essayist
Norman Mailer American Novelist, Journalist
John Fowles English Novelist
Don DeLillo American Author
Gabriela Mistral Chilean Poet
Amy Tan Chinese-American Novelist
Neil Gaiman British Writer
John Irving American Novelist
Paul Auster American Novelist, Poet
Haruki Murakami Japanese Novelist