All Quotes by Lewis Carroll
“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves”
“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
“One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.”
“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.”
“Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.”
“No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise.”
“Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world go round.”
“She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).”
“Always speak the truth, think before you speak, and write it down afterwards.”
“The White Knight must not have whiskers; he must not be made to look old.”
“Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves.”
“You have no mind to be unkind," my dear.”
“That's the reason they're called lessons, because they lesson from day to day.”
“To Her, whose children's smiles fed the narrator's fancy and were his rich reward: from the Author.”
“The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.”
“I charm in vain; for never again, On thee, my fairy friend!”
“I have proved by actual trial that a letter, that takes an hour to write, takes only about 3 minutes to read!”
“If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics – it does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, so long as there is enough of them.”
“Twinkle, twinkle little bat How I wonder what you're at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky.”
“But surely you trust God! Do you think He would let you come to harm? To be afraid is to distrust.”
“Sentence first, verdict afterwards.”
“As you have invited me, I cannot come, for I have made a rule to decline all invitations; but I will come the next day.”
“We called him Tortoise because he taught us.”
“What may I do?" at length I cried, And said "You must not ask.”
“'The time has come,' the walrus said, 'to talk of many things: of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings.'”
“There was once a young man of Oporta, Which was filled with the heaviest mortar.”
“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.”
“The day was wet, the rain fell souse A beating of a hammer.”
“Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.”
“And so it fell upon a day, (That is, it never rose again)”
“'But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.'”
“Fair stands the ancient Rectory, The children of the North.”
“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.”
“The rabbits bow before thee, Doth never say thee nay.”
“I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then.”
“One winter night, at half past nine, I had come home, too late to dine”
“'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'”
“"I've caught a cold," the Thing replies, A little Ghost was standing!”
“While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit.”
“And as to being in a fright, As Men to fear the dark.”
“While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit.”
“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”
“Yet still to choose a brat like you, Was no great compliment!"”
“There comes a pause, for human strength will not endure to dance without cessation; and everyone must reach the point at length of absolute prostration.”
“Port-wine, he says, when rich and sound, We call him the INN-SPECTRE.”
“'What is the use of a book', thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'”
“That narrow window, I expect, Who pinned his faith on Ruskin!”
“But I was thinking of a way To multiply by ten, And always, in the answer, get The question back again.”
“Now that's a thing I WILL NOT STAND, And so I tell you flat.”
“His answer trickled through my head like water through a sieve.”
“Oh, when I was a little Ghost, They gave us for our tea.”
“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”
“Which form of proverb do you prefer Better late than never, or Better never than late?”
“My father was a Brownie, Sir; Another was a Banshee.”
“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
“Who's the Knight-Mayor?" I cried. Instead Or you've a grand digestion!”
“He is immensely fat, and so THE MAYOR AND CORPORATION!”
“So, to reward him for his run To knight him on the spot.”
“Lady Clara Vere de Vere Every ringlet, lightly shaken, ran itself in golden thread.”
“There are certain things - as, a spider, a ghost, Is a thing they call the Sea.”
“There is an insect that people avoid In lodgings by the Sea.”
“I but why should I be fond of such?”
“Then proudly smiled that old man His face grew stern and sad.”
“Yet what are all such gaieties to me 11/3.”
“A sadder vision yet: thine aged sire And wilt thou die, that hast forgot to smile?”
“The air is bright with hues of light Ah, well-a-day!”
“Less Bread! More Taxes!--and then all the people cheered again, and one man, who was more excited than the rest, flung his hat high into the air, and shouted (as well as I could make out) "Who roar for the Sub-Warden?" Everybody roared, but whether it was for the Sub-Warden, or not, did not clearly appear: some were shouting "Bread!" and some "Taxes!", but no one seemed to know what it was they really wanted.”
“I suppose every child has a world of his own — and every man, too, for the matter of that. I wonder if that's the cause for all the misunderstanding there is in Life?”
“He thought he saw an Elephant, 'The bitterness of Life!'”
“He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk 'There won't be much for us!'”
“The West is the fitting tomb for all the sorrow and the sighing, all the errors and the follies of the Past: for all its withered Hopes and all its buried Loves! From the East comes new strength, new ambition, new Hope, new Life, new Love! Look Eastward! Aye, look Eastward!"”
“Fading, with the Night, the memory of a dead love, and the withered leaves of a blighted hope, and the sickly repinings and moody regrets that numb the best energies of the soul: and rising, broadening, rolling upward like a living flood, the manly resolve, and the dauntless will, and the heavenward gaze of faith — the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen! "Look Eastward! Aye, look Eastward!"”
“Since I have possessed a "Wonderland Stamp Case", Life has been bright and peaceful, and I have used no other. I believe the Queen's laundress uses no other.”
“If the Letter is to be in answer to another, begin by getting out that other letter and reading it through, in order to refresh your memory, as to what it is you have to answer, and as to your correspondent’s present address (otherwise you will be sending your letter to his regular address in London, though he has been careful in writing to give you his Torquay address in full).”
“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
“Put the date in full. It is another aggravating thing, when you wish, years afterwards, to arrange a series of letters, to find them dated "Feb. 17", "Aug. 2", without any year to guide you as to which comes first. And never, never, dear Madam (N.B. this remark is addressed to ladies only: no man would ever do such a thing), put "Wednesday", simply, as the date!”
“Here is a golden Rule to begin with. Write legibly. The average temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweetened, if everybody obeyed this Rule! A great deal of the bad writing in the world comes simply from writing too quickly.”
“If doubtful whether to end with “yours faithfully”, or “yours truly”, or “your most truly”, &c. (there are at least a dozen varieties, before you reach “yours affectionately”), refer to your correspondent’s last letter, and make your winding-up at least as friendly as his: in fact, even if a shade more friendly, it will do no harm!”
“God has given to Man an absolute right to take the lives of other animals, for any reasonable cause, such as the supply of food; but He has not given to Man the right to inflict pain, unless where necessary.”
“I wasn't asleep! said Bruno, in a deeply-injured tone. "When I shuts mine eyes, it's to show that I'm awake!"”
“Say, what is the spell, when her fledgelings are cheeping, To cuddle and croon it to rest?”
“Say, whence is the voice that, when anger is burning, For the brotherly hand-grip of peace?”
“'Tis a secret: none knows how it comes, how it goes: But the name of the secret is Love!”
“All in the waning light she stood, The star of perfect womanhood.”
“The dying crimson of the West A glory round the patient head.”
“Not as in rest she bowed, Upon the sleeping echoes of the night.”
“And she arose, and in that darkening room Peace that the world nor gives nor takes away!”
“O bitter is it to abide Till life be cold and gray?”
“The light was faint, and soft the air Her queenly head she bare.”
“An island-farm — broad seas of corn The happy spot where I was born.”
“The pictures, with their ruddy light, And I am left alone with night.”
“Last night we owned, with looks forlorn, We've learned that Love is Bitter-Sweet!”
“All too soon will Childhood gay Elves were made for gladness!”
“Went to the new Church both morning and afternoon, and read service in the afternoon. I got through it all with great success, till I came to read out the first verse of the hymn before the sermon, where the two words ‘strife strengthened,’ coming together, were too much for me, and I had to leave the verse unfinished.”
“I mark this day with a white stone.”
“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.”
“A tale begun in other days,”
“No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise.”
“While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit.”
“One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.”
“One! two! and through and through”
“Come, my child," I said, trying to lead her away. "Wish good-bye to the poor hare, and come and look for blackberries."”