Quotessence
Home / Topics / Lewis Carroll Quotes

Lewis Carroll Quotes

Browse 12 quotes about Lewis Carroll.

Lewis Carroll Quotes

“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" He chortled in his joy. 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.”

“We know from myths and fairy tales that there are many different kinds of powers in this world. One child is given a light saber, another a wizard’s education. The trick is not to amass all the different kinds of available power, but to use well the kind you’ve been granted. Introverts are offered keys to private gardens full of riches. To possess such a key is to tumble like Alice down her rabbit hole. She didn’t choose to go to Wonderland—but she made of it an adventure that was fresh and fantastic and very much her own. Lewis Carroll was an introvert, too, by the way. Without him, there would be no Alice in Wonderland. And by now, this shouldn’t surprise us.”

“He lifted his shirt, and on his back was the White Rabbit, wearing his waistcoat and looking at his watch. It was just like the illustration from the book. Only standing next to him, back-to-back, was another White Rabbit wearing a leather motercycle jacket and boots and smoking a cigar.”

“The Unicorn looked dreamily at Alice, and said "Talk, child." Alice could not help her lips curling up into a smile as she began: "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. Is that a bargain?”

“As children', wrote Alice Raikes (Mrs. Wilson Fox) in The Times, January 22, 1932, 'we lived in Onslow Square and used to play in the garden behind the houses. Charles Dodgson used to stay with an old uncle there, and walk up and down, his hands behind him, on the strip of lawn. One day, hearing my name, he called me to him saying, "So you are another Alice. I'm very found of Alices. Would you like to come and see something which is rather puzzling?" We followed him into his house which opened, as ours did, upon the garden, into a room full of furniture with a tall mirror standing across one corner.' "Now", he said giving me an orange, "first tell me which hand you have got that in." "The right" I said. "Now", he said, "go and stand before that glass, and tell me which hand the little girl you see there has got it in." After some perplexed contemplation, I said, "The left hand." "Exactly," he said, "and how do you explain that?" I couldn't explain it, but seeing that some solution was expected, I ventured, "If I was on the other side of the glass, wouldn't the orange still be in my right hand?" I can remember his laugh. "Well done, little Alice," he said. "The best answer I've heard yet." "I heard no more then, but in after years was told that he said that had given him his first idea for Through the Looking-Glass, a copy of which, together with each of his other books, he regularly sent me.”

“Nenhum outro menino em seu círculo de conhecidos tinha lido o que ele tinha lido e, como tia Mildred escolhia os livros cuidadosamente para ele, assim como havia escolhido para a irmã, em seu período de confinamento, treze anos antes, Ferguson lia os livros que ela mandava com uma avidez que parecia fome física, pois sua tia compreendia quais livros iam dos seis para os oito anos de idade, dos oito para os dez, dos dez para os doze — e daí até o fim do ensino médio. Contos de fadas, para começar os Irmãos Grimm e os livros muito coloridos compilados pelo escocês Lang, depois os fantásticos e assombrosos romances de Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald e Edithh Nesbit, seguidos pelas versões de mitos gregos e romanos escritas por Bulfinch, uma adaptação infantil de Odisseia, A teia de Charlotte, uma adaptação de As mil e uma noites, remontadas com o título de As sete viagens de Simbad, o Marujo, e mais adiante, uma seleção de seiscentas páginas de As mil e uma noites originais, e no ano seguinte O médico e o monstro, contos de horror e mistério de Poe, O príncipe e o mendigo, Raptado, Um conto de Natal, Tom Sawyer e Um estudo em vermelho, e a reação de Ferguson foi tão forte ao livro de Conan Doyle que o presente que ele ganhou da tia Mildred em seu décimo primeiro aniversário foi uma edição imensamente gorda, abundantemente ilustrada, de Histórias Completas de Sherlock Holmes.”

“Well," [Theodore Roosevelt] said, "I am glad to welcome to the White House someone to whom I can quote The Hunting of the Snark without being asked what I mean! . . . Would you believe it, no one in the administration has ever heard of Alice, much less of the Snark, and the other day, when I said to the Secretary of the Navy: 'Mr. Secretary, What I say three times is true,' he did not recognize the allusion, and answered with an aggrieved air: 'Mr. President, it would never for a moment have occurred to me to impugn your veracity!”

“[…]¿Podrías decirme, por favor, qué camino he de tomar para salir de aquí? —Depende mucho del punto adonde quieras ir —contestó el Gato. —Me da casi igual adónde —dijo Alicia. —Entonces no importa qué camino sigas —dijo el Gato. —…siempre que llegue a alguna parte —añadió Alicia, a modo de explicación. —¡Ah!, seguro que lo consigues —dijo el Gato—, si andas lo suficiente.”