The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #5)

by Lemony Snicket

Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course.

“This isn’t such a nice room,” Violet said finally, “but if I put my mind to it, I bet I can invent something that can keep these crabs away from us.” “And I’m going to read up on this light tan fungus,” Klaus said. “Maybe the dormitory library has information on how to stop it from dripping.” “Ivoser,” Sunny said, which meant something like “I bet I can use my four sharp teeth to scrape this paint away and make the walls a bit less ugly.”

Resilience

Friends can make you feel that the world is smaller and less sneaky than it really is, because you know people who have similar experiences,

A triptych has three panels, with something different painted on each of the panels.

This rule did not really make any sense—it is, after all, just as easy to remember you will die when you are relaxing as when you are in school—but

Violet stood up from the hay and said, “How do you do, Coach Genghis?”

Shift. Knowledge that they won't be taken seriously

bravery often demands a price.

austere—a word which here means “stern and severe”—motto,

After the fire, the children had known their parents were dead, of course, but it had felt like they had merely gone away somewhere and would be back before long.

Another important facet of grief - the understanding of death's permanence

the prism of experience, a phrase which simply means that things tend to become clearer as time goes on.