Great Throughts Treasury

"I entered my room, and undrew the window-curtains, just in time to see the sun burst in glory from his ocean-prison, and clothe the world in the light of a new day."

"I have had prayers answered - most strangely so sometimes - but I think our heavenly Father's loving-kindness has been even more evident in what He has refused me."

"I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it."

"I have a fairy by my side which says I must not sleep, when once in pain I loudly cried it said You must not weep If, full of mirth, I smile and grin, It says You must not laugh when once I wished to drink some gin it said You must not quaff. When once a meal I wished to taste it said You must not bite When to the wars I went in haste it said You must not fight.What may I do? at length I cried, tired of the painful task. The fairy quietly replied, and said You must not ask. Moral: You mustn't."

"I have believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

"I have proved by actual trial that a letter, that takes an hour to write, takes only about 3 minutes to read!"

"I have seen so many extraordinary things, nothing seems extraordinary any more"

"I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then."

"I- I'm a little girl, said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the number of changes she had gone through that day..."

"I love the stillness of the wood; I love the music of the rill: I love the couch in pensive mod upon some silent hill. Scarce heard, beneath yon arching trees, the silver-crested ripples pass; and, like a mimic brook, the breeze whispers among the grass. Here from the world i win release, nor scorn of men, nor footstep rude, break into mar the holy peace of this great solitude. Here may the silent tears i weep lull the vested spirit into rest, as infants sob themselves to sleep upon a mother?s breast. But when the bitter hour is gone, and the keen throbbing pangs are still, oh, sweetest then to couch alone upon some silent hill! To live in joys that once have been, to put the cold world out of sight, and deck life's drear and barren scene with hues of rainbow-light. For what to man the gift of breath, if sorrow be his lot below; if all the day that ends in death be dark with clouds of woe? Shall the poor transport of an hour repay long years of sore distress- the fragrance of a lonely flower make glad the wilderness? Ye golden house of life's young spring, of innocence, of love and truth! Bright, beyond all imagining, thou fairy-dream of youth! I'd give all wealth that years have piled, the slow result of life's decay, to be once more a little child for on bright summers day."

"I mean, what is an un-birthday present? A present given when it isn't your birthday, of course. Alice considered a little. I like birthday presents best, she said at last. You don't know what you're talking about! cried Humpty Dumpty. How many days are there in a year? Three hundred and sixty-five, said Alice. And how many birthdays have you? One."

"I mark this day with a white stone."

"I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

"I mean, said Alice, one cannot help but grow. One cannot possibly, said Humpty Dumpty, but two can. With proper help, you could stop to seven years."

"I maintain that any writer of a book is fully authorized in attaching any meaning he likes to a word or phrase he intends to use. If I find an author saying, at the beginning of his book, Let it be understood that by the word 'black' I shall always mean 'white,' and by the word 'white' I shall always mean 'black,' I meekly accept his ruling, however injudicious I think it."

"I must be shutting up like a telescope."

"I NEVER loved a dear Gazelle ? Nor anything that cost me much: High prices profit those who sell,"

"I quite agree with you, said the Duchess; and the moral of that is??Be what you would seem to be??or, if you?d like it put more simply??Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."

"I said you LOOKED like an egg, Sir. And some eggs are very pretty, you know."

"I said it in Hebrew?I said it in Dutch? I said it in German and Greek; But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) That English is what you speak!"

"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?"

"I see nobody on the road, said Alice. How I wish I have such good eyes, the King remarked bitterly. See No! And even at that distance! Me everything I can see, in this light, it is people!"

"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."

"I thought you did,' said the Mouse. `--I proceed. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable--' `Found WHAT?' said the Duck. `Found IT,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: `of course you know what it means.' `I know what it means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the Duck: `it 's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?' The Mouse did not notice this question, but hurriedly went on, `--found it advisable to go with Edgar Atheling to meet William and offer him the crown. William's conduct at first was moderate. But the insolence of his Normans-- How are you getting on now, my dear?' it continued, turning to Alice as it spoke."

"I think I should understand that better, if I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it."

"I wasn't asleep! said Bruno, in a deeply-injured tone. "When I shuts mine eyes, it's to show that I'm awake!""

"I wish I could manage to be glad! the Queen said. Only I never can remember the rule. You must be very happy, living in this wood, and being glad whenever you like!"

"I warn you, dear child. If I lose my temper, you lose your head. Understand?"

"I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!"

"I wish I hadn't cried so much! said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears !"

"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."

"If doubtful whether to end with ?yours faithfully?, or ?yours truly?, or ?your most truly?, &c. (there are at least a dozen varieties, before you reach ?yours affectionately?), refer to your correspondent?s last letter, and make your winding-up at least as friendly as his: in fact, even if a shade more friendly, it will do no harm!"

"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 I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense."

"If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does."

"If he smiled much more, the ends of his mouth might meet behind, and then I don't know what would happen to his head! I'm afraid it would come off!"

"If only I could manage, without annoyance to my family, to get imprisoned for 10 years, without hard labor, and with the use of books and writing materials, it would be simply delightful!"

"If it had grown up, it would have made a dreadfully ugly child; but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think."

"If there's no meaning in it, said the King, that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't know, he went on... I seem to see some meaning in them, after all."

"If the Letter is to be in answer to another, begin by getting out that other letter and reading it through, in order to refresh your memory, as to what it is you have to answer, and as to your correspondent?s present address."

"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."

"If you do not know where to go any adequate one."

"If you don't know where you are going any road can take you there"

"If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you take."

"If you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison' it is certain to disagree with you sooner or later."

"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."

"If you'd like it put more simply---Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."

"If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics ? it does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, so long as there is enough of them."

"If you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?"

"I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is - oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!"