Top 371 Quotes & Sayings by Lewis Carroll

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English author Lewis Carroll.
Last updated on September 16, 2024.
Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems Jabberwocky (1871) and The Hunting of the Snark (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.
Which form of proverb do you prefer Better late than never, or Better never than late?
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. — © Lewis Carroll
One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.
It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.
'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.'
The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.
Twinkle, twinkle little bat How I wonder what you're at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky.
'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.'
There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.
'The time has come,' the walrus said, 'to talk of many things: of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings.'
'What is the use of a book', thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'
No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise.
She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it). — © Lewis Carroll
She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).
That's the reason they're called lessons, because they lesson from day to day.
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.
Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.
But I was thinking of a way To multiply by ten, And always, in the answer, get The question back again.
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.
His answer trickled through my head like water through a sieve.
Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world go round.
Always speak the truth, think before you speak, and write it down afterwards.
Sentence first, verdict afterwards.
I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then.
We called him Tortoise because he taught us.
Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves.
Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.
I have proved by actual trial that a letter, that takes an hour to write, takes only about 3 minutes to read!
Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
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.
All that matters is what we do for each other.
Alice: This is impossible. The Mad Hatter: Only if you believe it is.
?You're not the same as you were before," he said. You were much more... muchier... you've lost your muchness.
I wonder if the snow loves the 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.
If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you take.
But, I nearly forgot, you must close your eyes otherwise you won't see anything.
Courtesy is a small act but it packs a mighty wallop.
You have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are.  If you want to get anywhere, you'll have to run much faster. — © Lewis Carroll
You have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are. If you want to get anywhere, you'll have to run much faster.
To me it seems that to give happiness is a far nobler goal that to attain it: and that what we exist for is much more a matter of relations to others than a matter of individual progress: much more a matter of helping others to heaven than of getting there ourselves.
Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.
Alice: "How long is forever?" White Rabbit: "Sometimes, just one second."
People who don't think shouldn't talk.
Why is it that people with the most narrow of minds seem to have the widest of mouths?
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.
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
Words mean more than we mean to express when we use them: so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer meant.
Alice tried another question. "What sort of people live about here?" "In THAT direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: And in THAT direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad." "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."
I'd give all the wealth that years have piled, the slow result of life's decay, To be once more a little child for one bright summer day. — © Lewis Carroll
I'd give all the wealth that years have piled, the slow result of life's decay, To be once more a little child for one bright summer day.
I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then
If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody can possibly find fault with, you will not do much!
You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret... All the best people are!
One of the hardest things in the world is to convey a meaning accurately from one mind to another.
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 contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be it would. You see?
It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.
When you have made a thorough and reasonably long effort, to understand a thing, and still feel puzzled by it, stop, you will only hurt yourself by going on.
In some ways, you know, people that don't exist, are much nicer than people that do.
I'm not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours.
Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.
If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics. It does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, as long as there is enough of them.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!