Lewis Carroll Quotes

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There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know.
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If you don't know where you are going any road can take you there.

Lewis Carroll

Tags: Life, travel, exploration, you, know, going, road, can, there

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Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen! Who for such dainties would not stoop? Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Lewis Carroll
— 1865  Song of the Mock Turtle.  Alice's  Adventures in Wonderland, ch.10.

Tags: Beautiful, Alice in Wonderland, Soup, rich, green, Waiting, hot, Who, dainties

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'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).

Lewis Carroll
— 1865  Alice's  Adventures in Wonderland, ch.2,'The Pool of  Tears'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Alice, surprised, moment, forgot, speak, good, English

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"That's not a regular rule: you invented it just now." "It's the oldest rule in the book," said the King. "Then it ought to be Number One," said Alice.

Lewis Carroll
— 1865  Alice's  Adventures in Wonderland, ch.12, 'Alice's Evidence'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, regular, rule, you, invented, now, oldest, King, Then

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'When you say ''hill'', 'the Queen interrupted, 'I could show you hills, in comparison with which you'd call that a valley.' 'No, I shouldn't,' said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: 'a hill can't be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense.' The Red Queen shook her head.'You may call it ''nonsense'' if you like,' she said,'but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!'

Lewis Carroll
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch.2,'The Garden of Live Flowers'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, you, Queen, show, hills, comparison, call, Alice, surprised

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"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "It's very easy to take more than nothing."

Lewis Carroll
— 1865  Alice's  Adventures in Wonderland, ch.7, 'A Mad Tea-Party'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, more, March, Hare, Alice, earnestly, nothing, replied, offended

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'I can repeat poetry as well as other folk if it comes to that' 'Oh, it needn't come to that!' Alice hastily said.

Lewis Carroll
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch.6,'Humpty Dumpty'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Alice, can, repeat, poetry, other, folk, needn't, hastily

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'Fan her head!'the Red Queen anxiously interrupted. 'She'll be feverish after so much thinking.'

Lewis Carroll
— 1871 Through the Looking-Glass, Ch.9, 'Queen  Alice'.

Tags: Red, Queen, anxiously, interrupted, feverish, after, thinking

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'Do you know Languages? What's the French for fiddle- de-dee?' 'Fiddle-de-dee's not English,' Alice replied gravely. 'Who ever said it was?' said the Red Queen. Alice thought she saw a way out of the difficulty this time. 'If you'll tell me what language 'fiddle-de-dee' is, I'll tell you the French for it!' she exclaimed triumphantly.

Lewis Carroll
— Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter 9: "Queen Alice" (1871)

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, you, know, Languages, French, fiddle, dedee', replied, gravely

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How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail, And pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale! How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in, With gently smiling jaws!

Lewis Carroll
— 1865  Alice's  Adventures in Wonderland, ch.2,'The Pool of  Tears'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, little, crocodile, Improve, shining, tail, pour, waters, Nile

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"All right," said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained sometime after the rest of it had gone.

Lewis Carroll
— 1865  The disappearance of the Cheshire Cat.  Alice's  Adventures in Wonderland, ch.6,'Pig and Pepper'.

Tags: Cat, time, vanished, slowly, beginning, end, tail, ending, sometime

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"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on. "I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least at least I mean what I say that's the same thing, you know." "Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. 'Why, you might just as well say that ''I see what I eat'' is the same thing as ''I eat what I see!"'

Lewis Carroll
— 1865  Alice's  Adventures in Wonderland, ch.7, 'A Mad Tea-Party'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, know, you, what, March, Hare, replied, least, thing

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'I only took the regular course.' 'What was that?' inquired Alice. 'Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with, 'the Mock Turtle replied; 'and then the different branches of Arithmetic -- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'

Lewis Carroll
— Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, chapter 9: 'The Mock Turtle's Story' (1865)

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, regular, arithmetic, reeling, inquired, Alice, Carroll, Writhing, course

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Tweedledum and Tweedledee Agreed to have a battle; For Tweedledum said Tweedledee Had spoilt his nice new rattle.

Lewis Carroll
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch.4,'Tweedledum and Tweedledee'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Tweedledum, Tweedledee, Agreed, battle, spoilt, nice, new, rattle

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'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
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch.4,'Tweedledum and Tweedledee'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Tweedledee, contrariwise, contrary, logic

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The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday but never jam today.

Lewis Carroll
— 1871  The White Queen. Through the Looking-Glass, ch.5,'Wool and Water'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, rule, jam, tomorrow, never, today, Queen, white

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Alice laughed.'There's no use trying,' she said: 'one can't believe impossible things.' 'I daresay you haven't had much practice, 'said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an- hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'

Lewis Carroll
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch. 5,'Wool and Water'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Alice, 'one, can't, believe, impossible, things', daresay, you

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'It's very provoking,' Humpty Dumpty said after a long silence, looking away from Alice as he spoke,'to be called an eggvery!'

Lewis Carroll
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch.6,'Humpty Dumpty'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, provoking, Humpty, Dumpty, after, long, silence, looking, away

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'That's a great deal to make one word mean,'Alice said in a thoughtful tone. 'When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty,' I always pay it extra.'

Lewis Carroll
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch.6,'Humpty Dumpty'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, great, deal, tomake, one, word, thoughtful, tone, 'When

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'There's glory for you!' 'I don't know what you mean by "'glory'',' Alice said. 'I meant, ''there's a nice knock-down argument for you!''' 'But ''glory'' doesn't mean' 'a nice knock-down argument'', 'Alice objected. 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone,'it means just what I choose it to mean neither more nor less.'

Lewis Carroll
— 1871Through the Looking-Glass, ch.6,'Humpty Dumpty'.

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, glory, you', know, what, mean, argument, nice, knockdown

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I believe this thought, of the possibility of death — if calmly realised, and steadily faced would be one of the best possible tests as to our going to any scene of amusement being right or wrong. If the thought of sudden death acquires, for you, a special horror when imagined as happening in a theatre, then be very sure the theatre is harmful for you, however harmless it may be for others; and that you are incurring a deadly peril in going.

Lewis Carroll
— In Sylvie and Bruno (1889), Preface

Tags: tests, believe, thought, possibility, death, calmly, realised, steadily, faced

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"If that there King was to wake," added Tweedledum, "you'd go out - bang! - just like a candle!"

Lewis Carroll
— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter 4.

Tags: there, King, wake, added, Tweedledum, bang, candle

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"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." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master that's all."

Lewis Carroll
— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Ch. 6

Tags: meaning, Alice in Wonderland, When, use, word, Humpty, Dumpty, scornful, tone

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I believe this thought, of the possibility of death if calmly realised, and steadily faced would be one of the best possible tests as to our going to any scene of amusement being right or wrong. If the thought of sudden death acquires, for you, a special horror when imagined as happening in a theatre, then be very sure the theatre is harmful for you, however harmless it may be for others; and that you are incurring a deadly peril in going.

Lewis Carroll
— In Sylvie and Bruno (1889), Preface

Tags: tests, believe, thought, possibility, death, calmly, realised, steadily, faced

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The Red Queen shook her head, 'You may call it "nonsense" if you like,' she said, 'but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!'

Lewis Carroll
— Lewis Carroll Through the looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871), Chapter II.

Tags: nonsense, Red, Queen, shook, head, 'You, may, call, heard

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Yet still to choose a brat like you, To haunt a man of forty-two, Was no great compliment!"

Lewis Carroll
— Lewis Carroll, Phantasmagoria (1869), Canto 1.

Tags: Yet, choose, brat, you, haunt, man, fortytwo, great, compliment

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"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
— Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter X.

Tags: Education, Reeling, Writhing, course, begin, Mock, Turtle, replied, different

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But the Red Queen drew herself up rather stiffly, and said 'Queens never make bargains'

Lewis Carroll
— The Red Queen to Alice, Through the Looking-Glass, ch.9

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, bargains, make, never, stiffly, drew, Queen, red

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If you don't think, you shouldn't talk.

Lewis Carroll
— Alice in Wonderland

Tags: insults, talk, shouldn't, thinks, don't

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