A new experience can be extremely pleasurable, or extremely irritating, or somewhere in between, and you never know until you try it out.

Count Olaf certainly does sound evil. Imagine forcing children to stand near a stove!

When you start reading nonfiction books about piracy, you realize that it's actually just a history of desperate people.

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 a left arm anymore but at least nobody will ever ask me if I'm left-handed or right-handed," but most of us would say something more along the lines of, "Aaaaaa! My arm! My arm!"

Nowhere in the world is safe," Count Olaf said. Not with you around," Violet agreed. I'm no worse than anyone else," Count Olaf said.

It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.

If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats.