My favorite quotes from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
I recently started reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and it is incredible.
I had never read it before, never even seen the movie, but it was one of those stories you know about in life without really knowing about it. So I bought a beautiful copy of the book and it’s been a process of trying to read a chapter, but barely making it past a page each time because the quotes in there make me think so. much. and I just want to share some of my favorites.
1. “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
This was the first quote that gave me serious pause. I’d written about a similar to concept to this in my blog post about Ascension Flu - the idea that our DNA ‘upgrades’ when we follow spiritual practices and we end up changing (usually) for the better.
I definitely feel like I change from year to year, but there are times when I feel like this happens on a day-to-day basis as well.
This hypothetical question always gives me trouble: “if you could go back in time and give yourself advice, or change something, what would it be?”
It’s so hard to know what advice I could ever give to a younger version of myself. Knowing me, I probably wouldn’t take it - no matter what the advice was. And knowing where I am in life today, maybe that would be for the best.
2. “She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes”
If this isn’t incredibly on the nose haha. Both the advice giving (and then refusing to take) as well as the self-scolding. I wonder a lot if the way I talk to myself throughout the day could ever be transcribed and recorded somehow. I feel like if I played it back or read the thoughts I say to myself on a daily basis I would be horrified.
Not all of them are bad! But it’s still amazing how we’re able to be our own worst critic in such a natural and everyday way.
3. “You’re mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
This might be my favorite quote from the entire book. I actually liked it so much I bought a print of this and framed it.
I’ve written before about how I’m often called weird or odd, so the first part of this is a pretty familiar quote haha.
By the way, for anyone who does feel weird or odd (insert the cringe Jughead quote here haha), reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a fantastic way to feel completely normal. Especially the tea party scenes haha.
4. “Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
One of the reasons why I love this book so much is because it gave me the same feeling I get when I read Calvin and Hobbes.
Imagination. Childhood. Wonder. Excitement. Curiosity.
I miss being a kid so much. I mean, I kind of miss it so much that I still act like one on a pretty regular basis, but I just miss that life. I miss flexing my imagination muscles, and taking baths where I didn’t watch Netflix, but instead played with toys and had the faucet pretend to be a waterfall and things like that, you know?
Like our imagination muscles just don’t get used anymore. Where do they go? When do we lose them entirely?
Anyway, tangent aside I loved this quote because I love to believe in the impossible things. Hence: all my conspiracy posts haha.
5. “I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then”
I’m sure there’s some deeper meaning to this book - I read somewhere that it was written to serve as satire for all of the classic fairytales out there, who knows.
But the themes of changing and not knowing where to go in life, and that not mattering because eventually you’ll get somewhere, all came up a lot.
I think about knowing who I am a lot. And then I think “why does it matter that I need to know that?” a lot more. And Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland didn’t really answer these questions fully for me, but it felt comforting to see things I’ve thought before written on paper.
One of my favorite passages from the book happens at the tea party, where Alice is talking with the Mad Hatter and a Dormouse. She asks the sleepy dormouse to tell her a story, and this is what he does:
`Once upon a time there were three little sisters,’ the Dormouse began in a great hurry; `and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well—’
`What did they live on?’ said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking.
`They lived on treacle,’ said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or two.
`They couldn’t have done that, you know,’ Alice gently remarked; `they’d have been ill.’
`So they were,’ said the Dormouse; `very ill.’ …The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then said, `It was a treacle-well.’
`There’s no such thing!’ Alice was beginning very angrily, but the Hatter and the March Hare went `Sh! sh!’ and the Dormouse sulkily remarked, `If you can’t be civil, you’d better finish the story for yourself.’
`No, please go on!’ Alice said very humbly; `I won’t interrupt again. I dare say there may be one.’
`One, indeed!’ said the Dormouse indignantly. However, he consented to go on. `And so these three little sisters—they were learning to draw, you know—’`What did they draw?’ said Alice, quite forgetting her promise.
`Treacle,’ said the Dormouse, without considering at all this time.
It’s just so good. I love everything about it. It’s another reminder for me of the “yes, and” rule of improv.
“They couldn’t have lived on treacle, they’d be very ill”
”So they were…very ill”
If the dormouse is mad and Alice is from the ‘normal’ world, it’s almost like, a reminder for me of how to take things lightly. I say something weird. Someone says that doesn’t make sense. Instead of being hurt and feeling a way, just say the equivalent of, ”so they were…very ill”
And maybe people will still think you’re “mad” or crazy or write you off, but a la Alice’s Adventures…does it really even matter?
Until the next one,
S