Quotes by Lewis Carroll

Speak roughly to your little boy and beat him when he sneezes! He only does it to annoy, because he knows it teases!

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.'

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; They pursued it with forks and hope; They threatened its life with a railway-share; They charmed it with smiles and soap.

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

Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens...that whatever you say to them, they always purr.

Everything is funny, if you can laugh at it.

To me it seems that to give happiness is a far nobler goal than 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.

The sea was wet as wet could be, the sands were dry as dry. You could not see a cloud, because no cloud was in the sky.

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

We CAN talk,' said the Tiger-lily: 'when there's anybody worth talking to.

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.

I have often seen a cat without a grin -- but a grin without a cat -- remember the cat kept appearing and disappearing slowly bit by bit.

Then it doesn't matter which way you walk...-so long as I get somewhere.

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.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next.

There's nothing a well-regulated child hates so much as regularity. I believe a really healthy boy would thoroughly enjoy Greek Grammar -- if only he might stand on his head to learn it!

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.

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.

The human mind is generally far more eager to praise and dispraise than to describe and define.

I wish I dared dispense with all costume. Naked children are so perfectly pure and lovely; but Mrs. Grundy would be furious -- it would never do.

And never, never, dear madam, put 'Wednesday' simply as the date! That way madness lies!

But I was thinking of a way
To feed oneself on batter,
And so go on from day to day
Getting a little fatter.

Is all our Life, then but a dream Seen faintly in the golden gleam Athwart Time's dark resistless stream?

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.

If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you take.

You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants some magical solution to their problem and everyone refuses to believe in magic.

But it's no use now, thought poor Alice, to pretend to be two people! Why, there's ahrdly enough of me left to make one respectable person!

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

The Hatter's remark seemed to her 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.

I'm not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours.

It's too late to correct it, said the Red Queen: when you've once said a thing, that fixes it, and you must take the consequences.

Beautiful soup! Who cares for fish, game or any other dish? Who would not give all else for two pennyworth of beautiful soup?

I once delivered a simple ball, which I was told, had it gone far enough, would have been considered a wide.

In most gardens, the Tiger-lily said, they make the beds too soft-so that the flowers are always asleep.

Go on till you come to the end; then stop.

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

If only I could manage, without annoyance to my family, to get imprisoned for 10 years, without hard labour, and with the use of books and writing materials, it would be simply delightful!

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.

If I was not assured by the best authority on earth that the world is to be destroyed by fire, I should conclude that the day of destruction is at hand, but brought on by means of an agent very opposite to that of heat.

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

I have seen so many extraordinary things, nothing seems extraordinary any more.

Yet what are all such gaieties to me whose thoughts are full of indices and surds?

You're thinking about something, my dear, and that makes you forget to talk.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

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

It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.

We haven't any and you're too young.

You would have to be half-mad to dream me up.

I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!

Who ARE You? This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, I -- I hardly know, sir, just at present -- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.

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

Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice 'but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing i ever saw in my life!

I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.

If everybody minded their own business... the world would go round a deal faster than it does.

One of the deepest motives (as you are aware) in the human beast (so deep that many have failed to detect it) is Alliteration.

My beloved friend -- one of the most unique and charming personalities of our time.

Keep your temper, said the Caterpillar.

So she sat on with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality.

Once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.

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.

I'm doubtful about the temper of your flamingo. Shall I try the experiment?

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo.

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

If I had but the time and you had but the brain.

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

As life draws nearer to its end, I feel more and more clearly that it will not matter in the least, at the last day, what form of religion a man has professed-nay, that many who have never even heard of Christ, will in that day find themselves saved by His blood.

What does it matter where my body happens to be?' he said. 'My mind goes on working all the same.

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.

Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread, with bitter tiding laden, shall summon to unwelcome bed a melancholy maiden! We are but older children, dear, who fret to find our bedtime near.

The recent extraordinary discovery in Photography, as applied in the operations of the mind, has reduced the art of novel-writing to the merest mechanical labour.

It's a great huge game of chess that's being played -- all over the world -- if this is the world at all, you know. Oh, what fun it is! How I wish I was one of them! I wouldn't mind being a Pawn, if only I might join -- though of course I should like to be a Queen, best.

In proceeding to the dining-room, the gentleman gives one arm to the lady he escorts -- it is unusual to offer both.

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.

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!

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!

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's life in space-time colored his liberated life of the imagination.

The Good and Great must ever shun
That reckless and abandoned one
Who stoops to perpetrate a pun.

Who sail on stormy seas;
And that's the way I get my bread --
A trifle, if you please.

The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.

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.

I'm sure the woods look sleepy in the autumn, when the leaves are getting brown.

It's jam every other day: to-day isn't any other day, you know.

One can't believe impossible things.

I can explain all the poems that were ever invented -- and a good many that haven't been invented just yet.

One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it -- it was the black kitten's fault entirely.

'I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir,' said Alice, 'Because I'm not myself you see.'

I see nobody on the road, said Alice. I only wish I had such eyes, the King remarked in a fretful tone. To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light.

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.

It is always allowable to ask for artichoke jelly with your boiled venison; however there are houses where this is not supplied.

I said it in Hebrew--I said it in Dutch-- I said it in German and Greek; But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) That English is what you speak!

Forbid the day when vivisection shall be practised in every college and school, and when the man of science, looking forth over a world which will then own no other sway than his, shall exult in the thought that he has made of this fair earth, if not a heaven, at least a hell for animals.

Look after the senses and the sounds will look after themselves.

Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea? Alice: Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more. March Hare: Ah, you mean you can't very well take less. Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.

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.

Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.

I know what you're thinking about, said Tweedle-dum, But it ain't so, nohow. Contrariwise, continued Tweedledee, 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.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

As a general rule, do not kick the shins of the opposite gentleman under the table, if personally unaquainted with him; your pleasantry is liable to be misunderstood -- a circumstance at all times unpleasant.

Do let's pretend that I'm a hungry hyena, and you're a bone!

Here is a golden Rule.... Write legibly. The average temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweetened, if everybody obeyedthis Rule!

But then, shall I never get any older than I am now? That'll be a comfort, one way -- never to be an old woman -- but then -- always to have lessons to learn!

How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail, And pour the waters of the Nile On every golden scale! How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly he spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in, With gently smiling jaws!

All in the golden afternoon Full leisurely we glide; For both our oars, with little skill, By little arms are plied, While little hands make vain pretence Our wanderings to guide.

Those serpents! There's no pleasing them!

What a strange world we live in...Said Alice to the Queen of hearts.

For first you write a sentence, And then you chop it small; Then mix the bits and sort them out Just as they chance to fall: The order of the phrases makes no difference at all.

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.

Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

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

When you have made a thorough and reasonably long effort, to understand a thing, and still feel puzzled by it, stop, you will only hurt yourself by going on.

May we not then sometimes define insanity as an inability to distinguish which is the waking and which the sleeping life? We often dream without the least suspicion of unreality: 'Sleep hath its own world', and it is often as lifelike as the other.

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.

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?

A tale begun in other days, When summer suns were glowing -- A simple chime, that served to time The rhythm of your rowing -- Whose echoes live in memory yet, Though envious years would say 'forget.

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?

No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise. Wouldn't it, really? said Alice, in a tone of great surprise. Of course not, said the Mock Turtle. Why, if a fish came to me, and told me he was going on a journey, I should say 'With what porpoise?

You're enough to try the patience of an oyster!

Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second.

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! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer today.

Why is a raven like a writing desk? -- Mad Hatter.

Like a fable, Night when a Milky Way goes through the other Milky Way
My hope is standing
He walked with the speed of memories.

The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours.

It's the stupidest tea party I ever was at in all my life!

I'm afraid so.Your totally bonkers.But I tellyou a secret.All the best people are.

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.

Sometimes, I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships -- and sealing wax -- of cabbages and kings.

'Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, '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.'

Alice: How long is forever? White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second.

In autumn, when the leaves are brown,
Take pen and ink, and write it down.

I'm getting rather hoarse, I fear,
After so much reciting:
So, if you don't object, my dear,
We'll try a glass of bitter beer -
I think it looks inviting.

If you don't know where you're going any road will do.

You have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are. If you want to get anywhere, you'll have to run much faster.