Lewis Carroll quotes
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“Words mean more than we mean to express when we use them: so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer meant.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
-- Lewis CarrollSource : Through the Looking-Glass ch. 5 (1872)
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“I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then.”
-- Lewis CarrollSource : Alice's Adventures inWonderland ch. 10 (1865)
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“You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret... All the best people are!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“I'm not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!" Well, now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Twinkle, twinkle little bat How I wonder what you're at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“He was part of my dream, of course -- but then I was part of his dream, too.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Alice: This is impossible. The Mad Hatter: Only if you believe it is.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Which way you ought to go depends on where you want to get to...”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“'The time has come,' the walrus said, 'to talk of many things: of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings.'”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“The Red Queen shook her head. "You may call it 'nonsense' if you like," she said, "but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“What a strange world we live in...Said Alice to the Queen of hearts”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that, whatever you say to them, they always purr: "If they would only purr for 'yes,' and mew for 'no,; or any rule of that sort," she had said, "so that one could keep up a conversation! But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“have i gone mad? im afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usualy are.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“To me it seems that to give happiness is a far nobler goal that to attain it: and that what we exist for is much more a matter of relations to others than a matter of individual progress: much more a matter of helping others to heaven than of getting there ourselves.”
-- Lewis CarrollSource : Lewis Carroll, Morton Norton Cohen, Roger Lancelyn Green (1979). “The letters of Lewis Carroll”, Oxford University Press, USA
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“You could not see a cloud, because No cloud was in the sky: No birds were flying overhead - There were no birds to fly.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Do you hear the snow against the windowpanes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over outside. I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ’Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’ And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about—whenever the wind blows...”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“It was much pleasanter at home," thought poor Alice, "when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down the rabbit-hole--and yet--and yet--...”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot. At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. "It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth,”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“...those serpents! There's no pleasing them!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“The proper definition of a man is an animal that writes letters.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“I'd give all the wealth that years have piled, the slow result of life's decay, To be once more a little child for one bright summer day.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Photography is my one recreation and I think it should be done well.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“A loaf of bread, the Walrus said, Is what we chiefly need: Pepper and vinegar besides Are very good indeed-- Now if you're ready, Oysters, dear, We can begin to feed!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics. It does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, as long as there is enough of them.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on. "I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know." "Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“O Oysters,' said the Carpenter, You've had a pleasant run! Shall we be trotting home again?' But answer came there none - And this was scarcely odd, because They'd eaten every one.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing-- turn your toes out when you walk--- And remember who you are!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“If you set to work to believe everything, you will tire out the believing-muscles of your mind, and then you'll be so weak you won't be able to believe the simplest true things.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“There's no use in comparing one's feelings between one day and the next; you must allow a reasonable interval, for the direction of change to show itself.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is - oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“"The horror of that moment," the King went on, "I shall never, never forget!" "You will, though," the Queen said, "if you don't make a memorandum of it."”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Well that was the silliest tea party I ever went to! I am never going back there again!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“Beware the Jabberwock, my son The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“She who saves a single soul, saves the universe.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“It is better to be feared than loved.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.”
-- Lewis CarrollSource : Lewis Carroll (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (Illustrated)”, p.404, Delphi Classics
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“Alice:How long is forever? White Rabbit:Sometimes, just one second.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“It takes all the running you can do just to keep in the same place.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“'Always speak the truth - think before you speak - and write it down afterwards.' 'I'm sure I didn't mean - ' Alice was beginning, but the Red Queen interrupted her impatiently. 'That's just what I complain of! You should have meant! What do you suppose is the use of child without any meaning? Even a joke should have some meaning - and a child's more important than a joke, I hope.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that whatever you say to them, they always purr.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“That's the reason they're called lessons, because they lesson from day to day.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die: Ever drifting down the stream- Lingering in the golden gleam- Life, what is it but a dream?”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“If you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison' it is certain to disagree with you sooner or later.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." "I don't much care where –" "Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“When you are describing, A shape, or sound, or tint; Don't state the matter plainly, But put it in a hint; And learn to look at all things, With a sort of mental squint.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“To the Looking-Glass world it was Alice that said 'I've a sceptre in hand, I've a crown on my head. Let the Looking-Glass creatures, whatever they be, Come and dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and me.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world go round.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“Everything is funny, if you can laugh at it.”
-- Lewis CarrollSource : Lewis Carroll (1965). “Alice in Wonderland”, p.15, Dramatic Publishing
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“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody can possibly find fault with, you will not do much!”
-- Lewis CarrollSource : Lewis Carroll (1954). “The diaries of Lewis Carroll [pseud.]”
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“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“All that matters is what we do for each other.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“The Cheshire Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt it ought to be treated with respect.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“In fact, now I come to think of it, do we decide questions, at all? We decide answers, no doubt: but surely the questions decide us? It is the dog, you know, that wags the tail--not the tail that wags the dog.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“A thick stick in one's hand makes people respectful.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“"All right", said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“It is the privilege of true genius, And especially genius who opens up a new path, To make great mistakes with impunity”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Magnitudes are algebraically represented by letter, men by men of letters, and so on.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“That which chiefly causes the failure of a dinner-party, is the running short--not of meat, nor yet of drink, but of conversation.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“I believe this thought, of the possibility of death - if calmly realised, and steadily faced would be one of the best possible tests as to our going to any scene of amusement being right or wrong.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“And thus they give the time, that Nature meant for peaceful sleep and meditative snores, to ceaseless din and mindless merriment and waste of shoes and floors.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“When all has been considered, it seems to me to be the irresistible intuition that infinite punishment for finite sin would be unjust, and therefore wrong. We feel that even weak and erring Man would shrink from such an act. And we cannot conceive of God as acting on a lower standard of right and wrong.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“I don't want to take up literature in a money-making spirit, or be very anxious about making large profits, but selling it at a loss is another thing altogether, and an amusement I cannot well afford.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Some children have the most disagreeable way of getting grown-up”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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“she was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off. The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Be who you are, said the Duchess to Alice, or, if you would like it put more simply, never try to be what you might have been or could have been other than what you should have been.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Five o'clock tea" is a phrase our "rude forefathers," even of the last generation, would scarcely have understood, so completelyis it a thing of to-day; and yet, so rapid is the March of the Mind, it has already risen into a national institution, and rivals, in its universal application to all ranks and ages, and as a specific for "all the ills that flesh is heir to," the glorious Magna Charta.”
-- Lewis Carroll -
“Here is a golden Rule.... Write legibly. The average temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweetened, if everybody obeyedthis Rule!”
-- Lewis Carroll -
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