Mock Turtle

Famous quotes containing the words mock turtle, mock and/or turtle:

    “I couldn’t afford to learn it,” said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. “I only took the regular course.”
    “What was that?” inquired Alice.
    “Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,” the Mock Turtle replied; “and then the different branches of Arithmetic—Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.”
    “I never heard of ‘Uglification,’” Alice ventured to say.
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)

    “And how many hours a day did you do lessons?” said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
    “Ten hours the first day,” said the Mock Turtle: “nine the next, and so on.”
    “What a curious plan!” exclaimed Alice.
    “That’s the reason they’re called lessons,” the Gryphon remarked: “because they lessen from day to day.”
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)

    The second day of Christmas,
    My true love sent to me
    Two turtle doves,
    —Unknown. The Twelve Days of Christmas (l. 4–6)