Lewis Carroll Quotes

355 Sourced Quotes

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
The air is bright with hues of light
And rich with laughter and with singing:
Young hearts beat high in ecstasy,
And banners wave, and bells are ringing:
But silence falls with fading day,
And there's an end to mirth and play.
Ah, well-a-day!

Lewis Carroll
'It's the oldest rule in the book,' said the King.
'Then it ought to be Number One,' said Alice.

Lewis Carroll
'Tis the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
'You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair.'

Lewis Carroll
An island-farm — broad seas of corn
Stirred by the wandering breath of morn —
The happy spot where I was born.

Lewis Carroll
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!

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
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
They've a temper, some of them — particularly verbs, they're the proudest — adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs — however, I can manage the whole lot of them!

Lewis Carroll
'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,' the Queen remarked.

Lewis Carroll
I'm very brave generally,' he went on in a low voice: 'only today I happen to have a headache.' (Tweedledum)

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
There was silence supreme! Not a shriek, not a scream, Scarcely even a howl or a groan, As the man they called "Ho!" told his story of woe In an antediluvian tone.

Lewis Carroll
He said, 'I look for butterflies
That sleep among the wheat:
I make them into mutton-pies,
And sell them in the street.'

Lewis Carroll
One winter night, at half past nine,
Cold, tired, and cross, and muddy,
I had come home, too late to dine

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
The White Knight must not have whiskers; he must not be made to look old.

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

Lewis Carroll
"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law, And argued each case with my wife; And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw, Has lasted the rest of my life."

Lewis Carroll
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "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
"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with," the Mock Turtle replied, "and the different branches of Arithmetic —Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision."

Lewis Carroll
It'll be no use their putting their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!" I shall only look up and say "Who am I then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I'll come up: if not, I'll stay down here till I'm somebody else"—but, oh dear!' cried Alice, with a sudden burst of tears, 'I do wish they WOULD put their heads down! I am so VERY tired of being all alone here!

Lewis Carroll
"That narrow window, I expect,
Serves but to let the dusk in - "
"But please," said I, "to recollect
'Twas fashioned by an architect
Who pinned his faith on Ruskin!"

Lewis Carroll
If he smiled much more, the ends of his mouth might meet behind, and then I don't know what would happen to his head! I'm afraid it would come off!

Lewis Carroll
'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!'

Lewis Carroll
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!'

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
'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.'

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
Now that's a thing I WILL NOT STAND,
And so I tell you flat.

Lewis Carroll