Quotes from Lewis Carroll

Is Life itself a dream, I wonder?

either the locks were too large, or the key was too small

For instance, take the two words fuming and furious. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards fuming, you will say fuming-furious; if they turn, by even a hair's breadth, towards furious, you will say furious-fuming; but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say frumious.

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.

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.

I maintain that any writer of a book is fully authorised in attaching any meaning he likes to a word or phrase he intends to use. If I find an author saying, at the beginning of his book, Let it be understood that by the word 'black' I shall always mean 'white,' and by the word 'white' I shall always mean 'black,' I meekly accept his ruling, however injudicious I think it.

no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, rather sharply; 'I advise you to leave off this minute!

Sometimes, I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." – Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!

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!

her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time with the words 'DRINK ME,' but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her lips. 'I know SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' she said to herself, 'whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what this bottle does.

You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in its sleep, "that 'I breathe when I sleep' is the same thing as 'I sleep when I breathe'!

How should I know? said Alice, surprised at her own courage. It's no business of mine. The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, began screaming Off with her head! Off with-- Nonsense! said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was silent.

I'm a poor man, your majesty, the Hatter began in a weak voice, and I hadn't but just begun my tea, not more than a week or so, and what with the bread and butter so thin - and the twinkling of the tea- The twinkling of what? asked the King. It began with the tea, the Hatter said. Of course twinkling begins with a T! said the King. Do you take me for a dunce?

Let craft, ambition, spite, Be quenched in Reason's night, Till weakness turn to might, Till what is dark be light, Till what is wrong be right!

Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die: Autumn frosts have slain July. Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes.

it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don't exactly know what they are!

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 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 call it purring, not growling, said Alice. Call it what you like, said the Cat.

And though the shadow of a sigh May tremble through the story, For happy summer days gone by, And vanish'd summer glory-- It shall not touch with breath of bale, The pleasance of our fairy-tale.

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: No birds were flying overhead - There were no birds to fly.

Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.' And she squeezed herself up closer to Alice's side as she spoke.

You might just as well say," added the March Hare, "that 'I like what I get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'!

I'm very much afraid I didn't mean anything but nonsense.

When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'I always pay it extra.