Monday's Excerpts - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

This Week's Book: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

    “Cheshire Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider; “Come, it’s pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?”
    “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
    “I don’t much care where——“ said Alice.
    “Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk,” said the Cat.
    “——so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
    “Oh, you’re sure to do that, said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
    Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. “What sort of people live about here?”
    “In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round “lives a Hatter; and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like; they’re both mad.”
    “But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
    “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat; “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
    “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
    “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” (Page 53)

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    The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from; that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn’t going to begin at his time of life.
    The King’s argument was, that anything that had a head could be beheaded, and that you weren’t to talk nonsense.
    The Queen’s Argument was, that if something wasn’t done about it in less than no time, she’d have everybody executed, all round. (It was this last remark that had made the whole party look so grave and anxious.) (Page 76)

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    “So you did, you know,” the Red Queen said to Alice. “Always speak the truth—think before you speak—and write it down afterward.”
    “I’m sure I didn’t mean——“ Alice was beginning, but the Red Queen interrupted her impatiently.
    “That’s just what I complain of. You should have meant! What do you suppose is the use of a child without any meaning? Even a joke should have some meaning—and a child’s more important than a joke, I hope. You couldn’t deny that, even if you tried with both hands.
    “I don’t deny things with my hands,” Alice objected.
    “Nobody said you did,” said the Red Queen. “I said you couldn’t if you tried.”
    “She’s in that state of mind,” said the White Queen, “that she wants to deny something—only she doesn’t know what to deny.”
    “A nasty, vicious temper,” the Red Queen remarked; and then there was an uncomfortable silence for a minute or two.(Pages 221-222)

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