Lewis Carroll: Doing

Lewis Carroll was English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. Explore interesting quotes on doing.
Lewis Carroll: 482 quotes303 likes

“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

“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

“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&amp;lpg=PA126&amp;vq=%22do%20for%20others%22&amp;pg=PA126#v=snippet&amp;q=%22do%20for%20others%22&amp;f=fals by Nina Auerbach: &quot;... 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?&quot; <br class="br">Disputed

“Why it's simply impassible!
Alice: Why, don't you mean impossible?
Door: No, I do mean impassible. Nothing's impossible!”

Lewis Carroll

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

“Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!"

Well, now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you.”

Lewis Carroll

Source: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland And Through The Looking Glass

“I do not know if 'Alice in Wonderland' was an original story — I was, at least, no conscious imitator in writing it — but I do know that, since it came out, something like a dozen story-books have appeared, on identically the same pattern.”

Lewis Carroll book Sylvie and Bruno

Preface
Sylvie and Bruno (1889)
Context: I do not know if 'Alice in Wonderland' was an original story — I was, at least, no conscious imitator in writing it — but I do know that, since it came out, something like a dozen story-books have appeared, on identically the same pattern. The path I timidly explored believing myself to be 'the first that ever burst into that silent sea' — is now a beaten high-road: all the way-side flowers have long ago been trampled into the dust: and it would be courting disaster for me to attempt that style again.

“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

Source: Alice Through the Looking Glass

“Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!”

Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

“Do you suppose she's a wildflower?”

Lewis Carroll

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

“All that matters is what we do for each other.”

Lewis Carroll

“And if he left off dreaming about you, where do you suppose you'd be?”

Lewis Carroll book Through the Looking-Glass

Source: Through the Looking Glass

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

Lewis Carroll

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

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

Lewis Carroll book Through the Looking-Glass

Source: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

“What do you suppose is the use of a child without any meaning? Even a joke should have some meaning-- and a child's more imporant than a joke, I hope. You couldn't deny that, even if you tried with both hands.”

Lewis Carroll book Through the Looking-Glass

Source: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

“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!”

Lewis Carroll

Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing (1890)

“But surely you trust God! Do you think He would let you come to harm? To be afraid is to distrust.”

Lewis Carroll

To a girl who was frightened of traveling by train
Quoted in Beatrice Hatch, "Lewis Carroll", Strand Magazine (April 1898), p. 421

“The rabbits bow before thee,
And cower in the straw;
The chickens are submissive,
And own thy will for law;
Bullfinches and canary
Thy bidding do obey;
And e'en the tortoise in its shell
Doth never say thee nay.”

Lewis Carroll

Lays of Sorrow No. 2
The Rectory Umbrella

“And at last we've got to the end of this ideal racecourse! Now that you accept A and B and C and D, of course you accept Z."
"Do I?" said the Tortoise innocently. "Let's make that quite clear. I accept A and B and C and D. Suppose I still refused to accept Z?"
"Then Logic would take you by the throat, and force you to do it!" Achilles triumphantly replied. "Logic would tell you, 'You can't help yourself. Now that you've accepted A and B and C and D, you must accept Z!' So you've no choice, you see."
"Whatever Logic is good enough to tell me is worth writing down," said the Tortoise. "So enter it in your notebook, please. We will call it
(E) If A and B and C and D are true, Z must be true.
Until I've granted that, of course I needn't grant Z. So it's quite a necessary step, you see?”

Lewis Carroll book What the Tortoise Said to Achilles

"I see," said Achilles; and there was a touch of sadness in his tone.
"What the Tortoise Said to Achilles", Mind, n.s., 4 (1895), pp. 278–80

“"What may I do?" at length I cried,
Tired of the painful task.
The fairy quietly replied,
And said "You must not ask."”

Lewis Carroll

My Fairy
Useful and Instructive Poetry (1845)