"Must a name mean something?" Alice asked doubtfully. Of course it must," Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh; "my name means the shape I am - and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost."
Lewis Carroll
Author, Mathematician
Lewis Carroll was an English writer and mathematician, best known for his imaginative works like 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' which explore themes of identity and reality.
- Born
- January 27, 1832
- Died
- January 14, 1898
- Quotes
- 367
- Rank
- #511
Quote collection
Lewis Carroll quotes (page 5 of 19)
367 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Here is a golden Rule.... Write legibly. The average temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweetened, if everybody obeyedthis Rule!"
"It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that whatever you say to them, they always purr."
"I'm very brave generally,' he went on in a low voice: 'only today I happen to have a headache.' (Tweedledum)"
"Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!"
"If everybody minded their own business... the world would go round a deal faster than it does."
"Do not, oh do not indulge such a wild idea that a newspaper might err! If so what have we to trust in this age of sham?"
"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 he spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in, With gently smiling jaws!"
"And if you take one from three hundred and sixty-five what remains?" "Three hundred and sixty-four, of course." Humpty Dumpty looked doubtful, "I'd rather see that done on paper," he said."
"'I beg your pardon?' Alice said with a puzzled air. 'I'm not offended,' said Humpty Dumpty."
"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."
"Without a plan, it doesn't matter which way you're going."
"No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time."
"Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?"
"It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that, whatever you say to them, they always purr: "If they would only purr for 'yes,' and mew for 'no,; or any rule of that sort," she had said, "so that one could keep up a conversation! But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?"
"I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them, Alice. One, there are drinks that make you shrink. Two, there are foods that make you grow. Three, animals can talk. Four, cats can disappear. Five, there is a place called Underland. Six, I can slay the Jabberwocky."
"Speak roughly to your little boy and beat him when he sneezes! he only does it to annoy, because he knows it teases!"
"Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!"
"This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot. At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. "It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!"
"'Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?' 'I read it in a book,' said Alice. 'But I had some poetry repeated to me, much easier than that, by - Tweedledee, I think it was.' 'As to poetry, you know,' said Humpty Dumpty, stretching out one of his great hands, 'I can repeat poetry as well as other folk, if it comes to that - ' 'Oh, it needn't come to that!' Alice hastily said, hoping to keep him from beginning."