I’ve been coming across quite a few articles and things about Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” (17 Legitimate Lessons We All Learned…, What A Bad Beginning: Netflix And Lemony Snicket To Re-Adapt…, and Which A Series of Unfortunate Events Character…, just to name a few). I LOVE these books. They are my automatic go-to when I’ve had a yucky day, when I’m in the foulest of moods, and when I’m sick enough that my brain can’t handle anything above children’s fiction. I also love reading them in November. Unfortunately, I have too many other books that I’m trying to finish this month (which is almost halfway over already!), so I’m not going to start another, no matter how great or how quickly I can finish it. However, sharing my favorite quotes from the books might be enough to satisfy me until I have an afternoon to pull one of them off the shelf. There are far too many quotes to share all of them. So, I’m only sharing quotes from books 1 through 6. At some point in the future, I’ll share my favorite quotes from the rest of the series.
“If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats” – The Wide Window
I’m not allergic to cats. I love cats. I wish I could afford to have a cat. I’m also not allergic to anything else that I know of (except for the standard allergies that everyone has after living in Texas for awhile). However, I love this quote because it humorously and intelligently states the obvious and doesn’t include “you idiot” or “duh”. There’s no eye roll or condescension. That’s one of the reasons I love these books so much. The frequent stupidity of adults is pointed out without once ever making adults out to be inferior. They’re human like everyone else, and they have faults and other things that trip them up or keep them from seeing the truth or paying attention to the important things. The lesson to take away is not to avoid becoming an adult or that all adults are bad, but to avoid developing those ways of thinking that make you blind to reality. With one exception, the following quotes are similar to the first one in that they are statements of common sense, which isn’t so common after all.
“Being afraid of a monster under the bed is perfectly rational, because there may in fact be a monster under your bed at any time, ready to eat you all up, but a fear of realtors is an irrational fear.” – The Wide Window
“Morning is one of the best times for thinking. When one has just woken up, but hasn’t yet gotten out of bed, it is a perfect time to look up at the ceiling, consider one’s life, and wonder what the future will hold.” – The Ersatz Elevator
“There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many, many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different.” – The Bad Beginning
“Just because something is typed-whether it is typed on a business card or typed in a newspaper or book-this does not mean that it is true.” – The Wide Window
“The expression “following suit” is a curious one, because it has nothing to do with walking behind a matching set of clothing. If you follow suit, it means you do the same thing somebody else has just done. If all of your friends decided to jump off a bridge into the icy waters of an ocean or river, for instance, and you jumped in right after them, you would be following suit. You can see why following suit can be a dangerous thing to do, because you could end up drowning simply because somebody else thought of it first.” – The Austere Academy
“As anyone who’s ever been to a doctor knows, doctors are not necessarily your friends, any more than mail deliverers are your friends, or butchers are your friends, or refrigerator repair-people are your friends. A doctor is a man or woman whose job it is to make you feel better, that’s all, and if you’ve ever had a shot you know that the statement ‘Doctors can’t hurt you’ is simply absurd.” – The Miserable Mill
What are your favorite quotes? Is there something else you learned from “A Series of Unfortunate Events”?
