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Lewis Carroll Quotes (1832-1898)
Author, Mathematician
About Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898) was an English author, mathematician, Anglican clergyman, logician, and amateur photographer. His father was Charles Dodgson (archdeacon), his great-grandfather was Charles Dodgson (bishop) and his nephew was Stuart Dodgson Collingwood.
Best Lewis Carroll Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Lewis Carroll quotes.
“The proper definition of a man is an animal that writes letters.”
“Yet still to choose a brat like you,
To haunt a man of forty-two,
Was no great compliment!"”
To haunt a man of forty-two,
Was no great compliment!"”
“An island-farm — broad seas of corn
Stirred by the wandering breath of morn —
The happy spot where I was born.”
Stirred by the wandering breath of morn —
The happy spot where I was born.”
“I wasn't asleep! said Bruno, in a deeply-injured tone. "When I shuts mine eyes, it's to show that I'm awake!''"”
“As you have invited me, I cannot come, for I have made a rule to decline all invitations; but I will come the next day.”
“The day was wet, the rain fell souse
Like jars of strawberry jam, a
sound was heard in the old henhouse,
A beating of a hammer.”
Like jars of strawberry jam, a
sound was heard in the old henhouse,
A beating of a hammer.”
“I suppose every child has a world of his own — and every man, too, for the matter of that. I wonder if that's the cause for all the misunderstanding there is in Life?”
Lewis Carroll Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Lewis Carroll quotes by topic.
Lewis Carroll on Absurdism 5 quotes
“Of course you know what a Snark is? If you do, please tell me: for I haven't an idea what it is like.”
Lewis Carroll on Candles 4 quotes
“His intimate friends called him "Candle-ends"”
Lewis Carroll on Forty-two 3 quotes
“Rule forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.”
Lewis Carroll on The Hunting of the Snark 3 quotes
“As to the meaning of the Snark? I'm very much afraid I didn't mean anything but nonsense!”
Lewis Carroll on Justice 2 quotes
“"No, no!" said the Queen. Sentence first—verdict afterwards.”
Lewis Carroll on Insect 2 quotes
“I wonder if that's the reason insects are so fond of flying into candles - because they want to turn into Snap-dragon-flies!”
Lewis Carroll on Nonsense 2 quotes
“'T was brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.”
Lewis Carroll on Hippopotamus 2 quotes
“Did you ever see the Rhinoceros, and the Hippopotamus, at the Zoological Gardens, trying to dance a minuet together? It is a touching sight.”
Lewis Carroll on Dance 2 quotes
“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.”
Lewis Carroll on Trivialism 2 quotes
“I suppose every child has a world of his own — and every man, too, for the matter of that. I wonder if that's the cause for all the misunderstanding there is in Life?”
What Lewis Carroll Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Lewis Carroll shared regarding contemporaries.
Lewis Carroll on Henry Holiday 2 quotes
“He much disheartened me by holding out no hopes that Holiday would be able to illustrate a book satisfactorily.”
Lewis Carroll on John Tenniel
“Mr. Tenniel is the only artist, who has drawn for me, who resolutely refused to use a model, and declared he has no more needed one than I should need a multiplication-table to work on a mathematical problem!”
Quotes About Lewis Carroll
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Lewis Carroll from others.
Source on Lewis Carroll 6 quotes
“Some American writer has said “the snakes in this district may be divided into one species—the venomous”. The same principle applies here. Postage-Stamp-Cases may be divided into one species, the “Wonderland”. Imitations of it will soon appear, no doubt: but they cannot include the two Pictorial Surprises, which are copyright.You don't see why I call them 'Surprises'? Well, take the Case in your left hand, and regard it attentively. You see Alice nursing the Duchess's Baby ? (An entirely new combination, by the way : it doesn't occur in the book.) Now, with your right thumb and forefinger, lay hold of the little book, and suddenly pull it out. The Baby has turned into a Pig I If that doesn't surprise you, why, I suppose you wouldn't be surprised if your own Mother-in-law suddenly turned into a Gyroscope!”
Princess Alice on Lewis Carroll
“Lewis Carroll was especially kind to Charlie and me, though when I was only five I offended him once when, at a children’s party at Hatfield, he was telling us a story. He was a stammerer and being unable to follow what he was saying I suddenly asked in a loud voice, "Why does he waggle his mouth like that?" I was hastily removed by the lady-in-waiting.”
Isa Bowman on Lewis Carroll
“He had a curiously womanish face, and, in direct contradiction to his real character, there seemed to be little strength in it.”
Gyles Brandreth on Lewis Carroll
“Lewis Carroll is somebody who wore different hats. He was a clergyman, a mathematician, a teacher. He wrote serious books, and amazing children's books. He was a photographer. So like most people, he was many people in one skin. Creatively, he made a greater impact than almost any other Victorian, and yet we know next to nothing about him, we just fall back on the old cliché.”
Jerome Bump on Lewis Carroll
“We lament that we cannot go home again, cannot be a little child once more, and Lewis Carroll's works have enabled us to deny that reality momentarily, to indulge our dreams for one bright interval.”
Gilbert Keith Chesterton on Lewis Carroll
Henry Savile Clarke on Lewis Carroll
“A Nursery Magician took All little children by the hand: And led them laughing through the book Where Alice walks in Wonderland.”
Stuart Dodgson Collingwood on Lewis Carroll 4 quotes
“He made pets of the most odd and unlikely animals, and numbered certain snails and toads among his intimate friends. He tried also to encourage civilised warfare among earthworms, by supplying them with small pieces of pipe, with which they might fight if so disposed. His notions of charity at this early age were somewhat rudimentary; he used to peel rushes with the idea that the pith would afterwards "be given to the poor," though what possible use they could put it to he never attempted to explain.”
Michael Dummett on Carroll on Lewis Carroll
“Such were the lucidity of exposition and his mastery of the topic that it seems possible that, had he ever published it, the political theory of Britain would have been significantly different.”
Harry Furniss on Lewis Carroll 2 quotes
“We worked together for seven years. Tenniel and other artists declared I would not work with Carroll for seven weeks! I accepted the challenge, but I, for that purpose, adopted quite a new method. No artist is more matter-of-fact or businesslike than myself: to Carroll I was not Hy. F., but someone else, as he was someone else. I was wilful and erratic, bordering on insanity. We therefore got on splendidly.”
Disputed Quotes
Quotes attributed to Lewis Carroll that are questionable.
Misattributed Quotes
Quotes mistakenly credited to Lewis Carroll
About Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898) was an English author, mathematician, Anglican clergyman, logician, and amateur photographer. His father was Charles Dodgson (archdeacon), his great-grandfather was Charles Dodgson (bishop) and his nephew was Stuart Dodgson Collingwood.