Lewis Carroll Quotes

Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. 'I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could. ~ Lewis Carroll

As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves while she ~ Lewis Carroll

daresay you haven't had much practice,' said ~ Lewis Carroll

And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, 'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, 'Do bats eat cats?' for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. ~ Lewis Carroll

Why, you might just as well say that, I see what I eat, is the same as, I eat what I see. ~ Lewis Carroll

One of the jurors had a pencil that squeaked. This of course, Alice could not stand, and she went round the court and got behind him, and very soon found an opportunity of taking it away. She did it so quickly that the poor little juror (it was Bill, the Lizard) could not make out at all what had become of it; so, after hunting all about for it, he was obliged to write with one finger for the rest of the day; and this was of very little use, as it left no mark on the slate. 'Herald, ~ Lewis Carroll

Where do you come from? And where are you going? Look up, speak nicely, and don't twiddle your fingers all the time. ~ Lewis Carroll

Anon, to sudden silence won, In fancy they pursue The dream-child moving through the land Of wonders wild and new, In friendly chat with bird or beast - And half believe it true. ~ Lewis Carroll

I should like the whole race of nurses to be abolished: children should be with their mother as much as possible, in my opinion. ~ Lewis Carroll

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again ~ Lewis Carroll

Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy tale. ~ Lewis Carroll

deep well. Either the ~ Lewis Carroll

Two days wrong!" sighed the Hatter. "I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!" he added, looking angrily at the March Hare. "It was the best butter," the March Hare meekly replied. ~ Lewis Carroll

What curious attitudes he goes into!' (For the messenger kept skipping up and down, and wriggling like an eel, as he came along, with his great hands spread out like fans on each side.)'Not at all,' said the King. 'He's an Anglo-Saxon Messenger-and those are Anglo-Saxon attitudes. He only does them when he's happy. ~ Lewis Carroll

There are days when it seems to me that in literature the most convincing depiction of the world in which we live is to be found in the phantasmagorical kingdom through which Lewis Carroll took Alice on a tour. ~ Dean Koontz

A likely story indeed!" said the Pigeon, in a tone of the deepest contempt. "I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never one with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a serpent; and there's no use denying it. I suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted an egg!"
"I have tasted eggs, certainly," said Alice, who was a very truthful child; "but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know."
"I don't believe it," said the Pigeon; "but if they do, then they're a kind of serpent: that's all I can say. ~ 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

Tumbling into a dark, Lewis Carroll labyrinth of filth, pursuing a white rabbit of smut! ~ Russell Brand

I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them, Alice. One, there are drinks that make you shrink. Two, there are foods that make you grow. Three, animals can talk. Four, cats can disappear. Five, there is a place called Underland. Six, I can slay the Jabberwocky. ~ Lewis Carroll

The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers! She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where can I have dropped them, I wonder? ~ Lewis Carroll

Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense. ~ Lewis Carroll

And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking!No,it'll never do to ask:perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere. ~ Lewis Carroll

There's nothing like eating hay when you're faint,' he remarked to her, as he munched away.

'I should think throwing cold water over you would be better,' Alice suggested, '- or some sal-volatile.'

'I didn't say there was nothing BETTER,' the King replied. 'I said there was nothing LIKE it. ~ Lewis Carroll

But, said Alice, if the world has absolutely no sense, who's stopping us from inventing one? ~ Lewis Carroll

Where one is hopelessly undecided as to what to say, there (as Confucius would have said, if they had given him the opportunity) silence is golden. ~ Lewis Carroll

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle. ~ Lewis Carroll

I said you LOOKED like an egg, Sir. And some eggs are very pretty, you know. ~ Lewis Carroll

That would never do, I'm sure,' said Alice: `the governess would never think of excusing me lessons for that. If she couldn't remember my name, she'd call me "Miss!" as the servants do.'

Well. if she said "Miss," and didn't say anything more,' the Gnat remarked, `of course you'd miss your lessons. That's a joke. I wish YOU had made it.'

Why do you wish I had made it?' Alice asked. `It's a very bad one.'

But the Gnat only sighed deeply, while two large tears came rolling down its cheeks.

You shouldn't make jokes,' Alice said, `if it makes you so unhappy. ~ Lewis Carroll

Which way you ought to go depends on where you want to get to ... ~ Lewis Carroll

The hurrier I go, the behinder I get. ~ Lewis Carroll

One novel has been all my reading, Our Mutual Friend, one of the cleverest that Dickens has written. ~ Lewis Carroll

Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. ~ Lewis Carroll

You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are. Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ~ Tara Crescent

It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very simply and neatly arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set about it. ~ Lewis Carroll

What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Ch. 1 ~ Lewis Carroll

And as to being in a fright,
Allow me to remark
That Ghosts have just as good a right
In every way, to fear the light,
As Men to fear the dark. ~ Lewis Carroll

Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began in a great hurry; 'and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well
' 'What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking. ~ Lewis Carroll

When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound. ~ Lewis Carroll

She's in that state of mind that she wants to deny something -only she doesn't know what to deny! ~ Lewis Carroll

I get so tired of people saying, 'Oh, you only make fantasy films and this and that', and I'm like, 'Well no, fantasy is reality', that's what Lewis Carroll showed in his work. ~ Tim Burton

Lewis Carroll. He was an odd one. Real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Completely denied having anything to do with the Alice books. Daft as a brush. You'd have liked him! ~ Mike Tucker

'And how, who am I? I will remember, if I can! I'm determined to do it!' But being determined didn't help much ... ~ Lewis Carroll

'Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. Alice looked around the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. 'I don't see any wine,' she remarked. 'There isn't any,' said the March Hare. ~ Lewis Carroll

You shouldn't make jokes if it makes you so unhappy. ~ Lewis Carroll

Something about the floating club reminded him of Wonderland. Not Disney's Wonderland, either, but Wonderland according to Lewis Carroll: dark, sumptuous. Treacherous. It was the sort of place where anything could happen ... and probably did. He had a feeling if a deranged, bloodthirsty monarch suddenly swept in and started demanding people's heads, no one would bat an eye. ~ Laura Oliva

You're thinking about something, and it makes you forget to talk. ~ Lewis Carroll

How is it you can all talk so nicely?' Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. 'I've been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.' 'Put your hand down, and feel the ground,' said the Tiger-lily. 'Then you'll know why.' Alice did so. 'It's very hard,' she said, 'but I don't see what that has to do with it.' 'In most gardens,' the Tiger-lily said, 'they make the beds too soft - so that the flowers are always asleep.' This sounded a very good reason, and Alice was quite pleased to know it. 'I never thought of that before!' she said. ~ Lewis Carroll

Are you Lewis Carroll? Redd asked him. ~ Frank Beddor

This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out That the Captain they trusted so well Had only one notion for crossing the ocean, And that was to tingle his bell. ~ Lewis Carroll

THE MILLENNIUM FULCRUM EDITION 3.0 ~ Lewis Carroll

"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

But it must be borne in mind that, if there is a Scylla before me, there is also a Charybdis - and that, in my fear of being read as a jest, I may incur the darker destiny of not being read at all. ~ Lewis Carroll

A thick stick in one's hand makes people respectful. ~ Lewis Carroll

Alice was beginning ~ Lewis Carroll

It was for bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions. ~ 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

Well, "slithy" means "lithe and slimy." "Lithe" is the same as "active." You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word. ~ Lewis Carroll

Welcome to Wonderland! Here you will meet some of literature's most ~ Lewis Carroll

if my memory serves me right, here is my genealogical line: Boccaccio, Petronius, Rabelais, Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau, Maeterlinck, Romain Rolland, Plotinus, Heraclitus, Nietzsche, Dostoievsky (and other Russian writers of the Nineteenth Century), the ancient Greek dramatists, theElizabethan dramatists (excluding Shakespeare), Theodore Dreiser, Knut Hamsun, D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Elie Faure, Oswald Spengler, Marcel Proust, Van Gogh, the Dadaists and Surrealists, Balzac, Lewis Carroll, Nijinsky, Rimbaud, Blaise Cendrars, Jean Giono, Celine, everything I read on Zen Buddhism, everything I read about China, India, Tibet, Arabia, Africa, and of course the Bible, the men who wrote it and especially the men who made the King James version, for it was the language of the Bible rather than its "message" which I got first and which I will never shake off. ~ Henry Miller

dreams are not reality, but who's to say which is which ~ Lewis Carroll

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted! Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into ~ Lewis Carroll

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

In Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality
the grass would be only rustling in the wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the reeds
the rattling teacups would ~ Lewis Carroll

What matter it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied."There is another shore, you know, upon the other side. ~ Lewis Carroll

I wish I hadn't cried so much! said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out.
I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears ! ~ Lewis Carroll

'Speak when you're spoken to!' The Queen sharply interrupted her. 'But if everybody obeyed that rule,' said Alice, who was always ready for a little argument, 'and if you only spoke when you were spoken to, and the other person always waited for you to begin, you see nobody would ever say anything, so that - ' 'Ridiculous!' cried the Queen. 'Why, don't you see, child - ' here she broke off with a frown, and, after thinking for a minute, suddenly changed the subject of the conversation. ~ Lewis Carroll

How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head though the doorway; 'and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to begin. ~ Lewis Carroll

In summer, when the days are long, Perhaps you'll understand the song: In Autumn, when the leaves are brown, Take pen and ink, and write it down. ~ Lewis Carroll

"Can you do Addition?" the White Queen said. "What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?" "I don't know," said Alice. "I lost count." "She can't do Addition," the Red Queen interrupted. ~ Lewis Carroll

Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards! ~ Lewis Carroll

We are but older children, dear,
Who fret to find our bedtime near. ~ Lewis Carroll

I didn't say there was nothing BETTER,' the King replied. 'I said there was nothing LIKE it.' Which Alice did not venture to deny. 'Who ~ Lewis Carroll

Who did you pass on the road?" the King went on, holding out his hand to the Messenger for some more hay.
"Nobody," said the Messenger.
"Quite right," said the King; "this young lady saw him too. So of course Nobody walks slower than you."
"I do my best," the Messenger said in a sullen tone. "I'm sure nobody walks much faster than I do!"
"He can't do that," said the King, "or else he'd have been here first. ~ Lewis Carroll

Call it what you like,' said the Cat. 'Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?' 'I should like it very much,' said Alice, 'but I haven't been invited yet.' 'You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished. ~ Lewis Carroll

You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
'And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
'I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again. ~ Lewis Carroll

Consider what a great girl you are. Consider what a long way you've come to-day. Consider what o'clock it is. Consider anything, only don't cry! ~ Lewis Carroll

Alice kept her eyes anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad cold if she did not get dry very soon.
'Ahem!' said the Mouse with an important air, 'are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English [ ... ] ~ Lewis Carroll

A very merry unbirthday to you ~ Lewis Carroll

She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! ~ Lewis Carroll

She saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; ~ Lewis Carroll

How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another. ~ Lewis Carroll

You don't know much,' said the Duchess; 'and that's a fact. ~ Lewis Carroll

Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop. ~ Lewis Carroll

Meanwhile we'll drink your health - queen Alice's health!' she screamed at the top of her voice, and all the guests began drinking it directly ... ~ Lewis Carroll

I thought you did,' said the Mouse. `--I proceed. "Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable--"'

`Found WHAT?' said the Duck.

`Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: `of course you know what "it" means.'

`I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the Duck: `it 's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?'

The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, `"--found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans--" How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke. ~ Lewis Carroll

And if you take one from three hundred and sixty-five what remains?"
"Three hundred and sixty-four, of course."
Humpty Dumpty looked doubtful, "I'd rather see that done on paper," he said. ~ Lewis Carroll

Am I mad?"
"I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers! But I'll tell you a secret ... all of the best people are! ~ Lewis Carroll

When she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural ~ Lewis Carroll

If it had grown up, it would have made a dreadfully ugly child; but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think. ~ Lewis Carroll

Flamingoes and mustard both bite. And the moral of that is
Birds of a feather flock together. ~ 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

I think I should understand that better, if I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it. ~ Lewis Carroll

Photography is my one recreation and I think it should be done well. ~ Lewis Carroll

And how do you know that you're mad? "To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad. You grant that?" I suppose so, said Alice. "Well then," the Cat went on, "you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags it's tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad. ~ Lewis Carroll

Change to tinkling sheep- bells, and the Queen's shrill cries to the voice of the shepherd boy
and the sneeze of the baby, the shriek of the Gryphon, and all ~ Lewis Carroll

Down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. 'Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) 'I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, 'Do ~ Lewis Carroll

How fond she is of finding morals in things!' Alice thought to herself. ~ Lewis Carroll

You might as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, 'that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'
'It is the same thing with you,' said the Hatter[ ... ]. ~ Lewis Carroll

she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. ~ Lewis Carroll

I pictured myself the Queen of Hearts as sort of embodiment of ungovernable passion - a blind and aimless Fury ~ Lewis Carroll