Who Could That Be at This Hour?

There was something I was always very good at, however, and that was teaching myself not to be frightened while frightening things are going on. It is difficult to do this, but I had learned. It is simply a matter of putting one’s fear aside, like the vegetable on the plate you don’t want to touch until all of your rice and chicken are gone, and getting frightened later, when one is out of danger.

Everybody does something wrong at one time to another. It was true, but I didn't like it.

If someone wanted to torture me until I told them a critical piece of information, all they would have to do is get my socks wet.

­– What about dinner? ­– I asked.
– I already had dinner, thank you.
– What about my dinner?
She frowned at me and walked up the stairs.
– That's the wrong question, Snicket. There are more important things than dinner. Focus on the case.

Very often you expect one thing from looking at the outside of it, but when you open it, there’s something else entirely.

This was nonsense, of course, but there’s nothing wrong with occasionally staring out the window and thinking nonsense, as long as the nonsense is yours.

It felt like the wrong thing to do, standing at the wrong door in the wrong place. We did it anyway. Knowing that something is wrong and doing it anyway happens very often in life, and I doubt I will ever know why.