22
" And sometimes we discuss frightening and troublesome animals that might be nearby, and this topic always leads to much disagreement over which part of a frightening and troublesome beast is the most frightening and troublesome. Some say the teeth of the beast, because teeth are used for eating children, and often their parents, and gnawing on their bones. Some say the claws of the beast, because claws are used for ripping things to shreds. And some say the hair of the beast, because hair can make allergic people sneeze. But I always insist that the most frightening part of any beast is its belly, for the simple reason that if you are seeing the belly of the beast it means you have already seen the teeth of the beast and the claws of the of the beast and even the hair of the beast, and now you are trapped and there is probably no hope for you. "
― Lemony Snicket , The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #9)
23
" There are many different things in this world to hide, but a secret is not one of them. It is difficult to hide an airplane, for instance, because you generally need to find a deep hole or an enormous haystack, and sneak the airplane inside in the middle of the night, but it is easy to hide a secret about an airplane, because you can merely write it on a tiny piece of paper and tape it to the bottom of your mattress any time you are at home. It is difficult to hide a symphony orchestra, because you usually need to rent a soundproof room and borrow as many sleeping bags as you can find, but it is easy to hide a secret about a symphony orchestra, because you can merely whisper it into the ear of a trustworthy friend or music critic. And it is difficult to hind yourself, because you sometimes need to stuff yourself into the trunk of an automobile, or concoct a disguise out of whatever you can find, but it is easy to hide a secret about yourself because you can merely type it into a book and hope it falls into the right hands. My dear sister, if you are reading things I am still alive, and heading north to try and find you. "
― Lemony Snicket , The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #9)
27
" As I'm sure you know, whenever you are examine someone else's belongings, you are bound to learn many interesting things about the person of which you were not previously aware. You might examine some letters you sister received recently, for instance, and learn that she was planning on running away with an archduke. You might examine the suitcase of another passenger on a train you are taking, and learn that he had been secretly photographing you for the past six months. I recently looked in the refrigerator of one of my enemies and learned she was a vegetarian, or at least pretending to be one, or had a vegetarian visiting her for a few days. And as the Baudelaire orphans examined some of the objets in Olaf's trunk, they learned a great deal of unpleasant things. "
― Lemony Snicket , The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #9)
36
" At first glance, the painting on the fortune-telling tent seemed to depict
an eye, like the decoration on Madame Lulu's caravan and the tattoo on Count Olaf's ankle.
The three children had seen similar eyes wherever they went, from a building in the shape of
an eye when they were working in a lumbermill, to an eye on Esmé Squalor's purse when
they were hiding in a hospital, to a huge swarm of eyes that surrounded them in their most
frightening nightmares, and although the siblings never understood quite what these eyes
meant, they were so weary of gazing at them that they would never pause to look at one
again. But there are many things in life that become different if you take a long look at them, and as the children paused in front of the fortune-telling tent, the painting seemed to change
before their very eyes, until it did not seem like a painting at all, but an insignia. "
― Lemony Snicket , The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #9)