Lewis Carroll quotes

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Lewis Carroll

Birthdate: 27. January 1832
Date of death: 14. January 1898

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll , was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, which includes the poem "Jabberwocky", and the poem The Hunting of the Snark – all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic and fantasy. There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life.

Photo: Oscar Gustave Rejlander, Unknown source / Public domain

Works

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking-Glass

Lewis Carroll

Sylvie and Bruno

Lewis Carroll

Three Sunsets and Other Poems

Lewis Carroll

Jabberwocky

Lewis Carroll

What the Tortoise Said to Achilles

Lewis Carroll

Quotes Lewis Carroll

„Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, “What road do I take?”

The cat asked, “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” Alice answered.

“Then,” said the cat, “it really doesn’t matter, does it?“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Variant: One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response. ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Tree, Cats

„Where should I go?" -Alice. "That depends on where you want to end up." - The Cheshire Cat.“

— Lewis Carroll

Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

Dependency, Cats

„Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Variant: But if I’m not the same, the next question is, ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!
Source: Alice in Wonderland

World

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

— Lewis Carroll

Variant: I'm not crazy. My reality is just different than yours.

Reality

„Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Dependency, Cats, Way

„There is a place, like no place on earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger. Some say, to survive it, you need to be as mad as a hatter. Which, luckily, I am.“

— Lewis Carroll

Madness

„Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Variant: Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Source: Alice in Wonderland

„Begin at the beginning, the King said, very gravely, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

„Everything is funny, if you can laugh at it.“

— Lewis Carroll

Variant: Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

„But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Madness, Help, Cats, People

„Mad Hatter: “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
“No, I give it up,” Alice replied: “What’s the answer?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Madness, Idea

„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!“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Night, Change, Thinking, Question

„It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Personality

„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, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Dependency, Way

„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

Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

World

„I wonder if the snowthe 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

Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

Summer, Tree, Sleep, Kiss

„One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.“

— Lewis Carroll

This is a paraphrase of statement in a thank you note from Carroll to a childhood friend, the actress Ellen Terry, published in Ellen Terry, Player in Her Time (1997), p. 126 https://books.google.com/books?id=2PkzZ9KaRlwC&lpg=PA126&vq=%22do%20for%20others%22&pg=PA126#v=snippet&q=%22do%20for%20others%22&f=fals by Nina Auerbach: "... and so you have found out that secret — one of the deep secrets of Life — that all, that is really worth the doing, is what we do for others?"
Disputed

Secret, Life

„If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Business, World

„I don't think… then you shouldn't talk, said the Hatter.“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Thinking

„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

Variant: I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Time, Change, Thinking