Would you rather...?

We got a new game today, and were playing it on our drive home from the bookstore. It's called "Would you rather...? and is kind of like a game that teenage girls play late at night when they're sleeping over. One of the questions was about whether you'd rather have three questions answered or be able to resurrect someone. The kids and I, better at snap judgments, immediately went for the three questions, but Ron was hesitating over resurrection. "Oh come on," I said, "necromancy never pays; literature shows us this over and over."
"Oh yeah," Ron said, "The Monkey's Paw."
And then we went on to the next question. Some things are just clear, once you remember all the stuff you've read about them.
So since I have some time on my hands, I've decided to gather other truths we learn from literature.