The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #12)

by Lemony Snicket

“A great man once said that right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Do you understand what that means?”

‘To be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it; to go through intrigue spotless; to forgo even ambition when the end is gained—who can say this is not greatness?’

And still other people think that destiny is an invisible force, like gravity, or a fear of paper cuts, that guides everyone throughout their lives, whether they are embarking on a mysterious errand, doing a treacherous deed, or deciding that a book they have begun reading is too dreadful to finish.

If you were to hold this book up to a mirror, you would see at once how confusing it is to read In fact, the entire world looks confusing in a mirror, almost as if except backward. Life is perplexing enough without thinking about other worlds staring back at you from the mirror, which is why people who spend a great deal of time looking in the mirror tend to have trouble thinking about anything except

Please try the marmalade. It’s delicious.”

There was an enormous cavern, but a treacherous team of realtors claimed it for themselves.

Well, the headquarters was the penultimate safe place.” “Penulhoo?” Sunny asked. “‘Penultimate’ means ‘next-to-last,’” Kit explained.

“Verbal Fridge Dialogue,”

Volunteer Factual Dispatch

Vessel For Disaccharides.”

I’m sad to say that this won’t be as easy as it sounds.” “It doesn’t sound easy at all,” Klaus said. “That’s the spirit,” Kit said,

Showing up early is one of the signs of a noble person,

“But how can we tell the volunteers from the enemies?” Violet asked.

“The same way you always do,” Kit said. “When you first met Count Olaf, did you have any doubt he was a treacherous person? When you first met the Quagmire triplets, did you have any doubt that they were charming and resourceful? You’ll have to observe everyone you see, and make such judgements yourselves. You Baudelaires will become flaneurs.”

“Flaneurs,” Kit explained, “are people who quietly observe their surroundings, intruding only when it is absolutely necessary.

Village of Fowl Devotees,

“People who sunbathe aren’t usually interested in library science, so they’re not picky about the salon’s location.

“Off with you” is a phrase used by people who lack the courtesy to say something more polite, such as “If there’s nothing else you require, I must be going,” or “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave, please,” or even “Excuse me, but I believe you have mistaken my home for your own, and my valuable belongings for yours, and I must ask you to return the items in question to me, and leave my home, after untying me from this chair, as I am unable to do it myself, if it’s not too much trouble.”

She knew that calling a person “sir” can often help you get what you want, unless of course the person is a woman.

Vision Furthering Device

“Bertrand,”

“According to our calculations, the sugar will be laundered sometime after nightfall,” replied the manager, equally unfathomably.

someone who writes twelve or thirteen books in a relatively short time is likely to find themselves hiding under the coffee table of a notorious villain, holding his breath, hoping nobody at the cocktail party will notice the trembling backgammon set, and wondering, as the inkstain spreads across the carpeting, if certain literary exercises have been entirely worthwhile.

Vernacularly Fastened Door.

The denouement is the moment when all of the knots of a story are untied, and all the threads are unraveled, and everything is laid out clearly for the world to see. But the denouement should not be confused with the end of a story.

There are some stories in which the denouement and the end occur simultaneously,

It is often the second-to-last event, or the penultimate peril.

one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.

Valley of Four Drafts.”

Vision Furthering Device

Village of Fowl Devotees,

Vernacularly Fastened Door,”

Neither were you, unless of course I am wrong, in which case welcome to the world, little baby, and congratulations on learning to read so early in life.

“Wicked people never have time for reading,” Dewey said. “It’s one of the reasons for their wickedness.”

Justice is out. Injustice is in. That’s why it’s called injustice.”

Verse Fluctuation Declaration,

“If a crime has been committed, then it’s our duty to stand around in our pajamas in the name of justice!”

“I submit this commonplace book!” announced either Frank or Ernest. “So do I!” announced either Ernest or Frank. “I submit my mother!”

“I submit these thesauri!”

“I submit these assorted pieces of evidence I’m unwilling to categorize!”

assorted pieces of evidence a certain person was unwilling to categorize, and someone’s mother,

The finger had been broken long ago, in a dispute over a game of backgammon, which is another story that would take at least thirteen books to describe, but in the Baudelaires’ story the finger only made this brief appearance as it pointed at the children in alarm.

Sunny nodded. “The last safe place,” she said, “is safe no more.” It was an impressive sentence for the youngest Baudelaire, but a sad one.

“Who knows when some slight shock,” he asks, “disturbing the delicate balance between social order and thirsty aspiration, shall send the skyscrapers in our cities toppling?”