Top 10 Lines from Shakespeare's "The Tempest"

10. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
9. Do not infest your mind with beating on the strangeness of this business.
8. O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in't!
7. My language! Heavens! I am the best of them that speak this speech, were I but where 'tis spoken.
6. You taught me language, and my profit on't is, I know how to curse.
5. Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.
4. Travellers ne'er did lie, though fools at home condemn 'em.
3. Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose.
2. What impossible matter will he make easy next?
1. Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.

Top 10 First Lines

10. Call me Ishmael. (Moby Dick, Herman Melville)
9. It was love at first sight. (Catch-22, Joseph Heller)
8. You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. (If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino)
7. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen)
6. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. (Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, J.K. Rowling)
5. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis)
4. Two households, both alike in dignity,/ In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,/ .../ Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;/ The which, if you with patient ears attend,/ What here shall miss our toil shall strive to men. (Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare)
3. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. (A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens)
2. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. (Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy)
1. This is the saddest story I have ever heard. (The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford)

I seriously considered "It was a dark and stormy night" from Bulwer-Lytton's Paul Clifford, as it is probably the most imitated line in history. But then I realized that, aside from being super famous, it's not that interesting. Melville's line from Moby Dick actually beat him out because I see added humor in it from reading Lemony Snicket's book 13. Sad, but true. As far as number 6 goes, don't be hatin'. You have to admit it's a good first line for the madness that follows.

Top 10 Favorite Lemony Snicket Quotes (Books 4-6)

10. They found it difficult to believe that things would get better [...] when they lived in such gloomy and poorly lit surroundings.
9. If you are a baby, your family will see you in your underwear many times, and there's no use being embarrassed about it.
8. The word "dreadful," even when used three times in a row, did not seem like a dreadful enough word to describe everything that had happened.
7. To hear the phrase "our only hope" always makes one anxious, because it means that if the only hope doesn't work, there is nothing left, and that is never pleasant to think about.
6. The children knew they would not sleep like logs, unless there were certain logs that tossed and turned all night wondering things.
5. Everybody will die, but very few people want to be reminded of that fact.
4. "In certain cases, enthusiasm can make up for lack of brainpower."
3. Both children felt the dread that comes when you begin a very boring and difficult book.
2. It looked exhausting and pointless, two things that should be avoided at all costs.
1. It is terribly rude to tell people that their troubles are boring.

Top 10 Favorite Lemony Snicket Quotes (Books 1-3)

10. 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.
9. Like most restaurants filled with neon lights and balloons, the Anxious Clown served terrible food.
8. There are few sights sadder than a ruined book.
7. Sometimes, when someone tells a ridiculous lie, it is best to ignore it entirely.
6. Leaving [...] dirty dishes behind [...] is not a good thing to do in general but perfectly acceptable in the face of an emergency.
5. It is very unnerving to be proven wrong, particularly when you are really right and the person who is really wrong is the person who is proving you wrong and proving himself, wrongly, right.
4. A library is normally a very good place to work in the afternoon, but not if its window has been smashed and there is a hurricane approaching.
3. "You needn't be afraid of me, little ones, until we find ourselves in a location where crimes are more difficult to trace."
2. Normally it is not polite to go into someone's room without knocking, but you can make an exception if the person is dead, or pretending to be dead.
1. Just because something is typed -- whether it is typed on a business card or typed in a newspaper or book -- does not mean it is true.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is the children's series that I wish I'd written. It's seriously brilliant.