Pretty images and merchandise with quotes attributed to Lewis Carroll or the Alice in Wonderland books are popping up everywhere nowadays. Unfortunately, many of these quotes are misattributed: they are not from the ‘Alice’ books, nor from their author. Please don’t spread the misconception!
The internet is a blessing, but it also has a downside: funny, entertaining, motivational or spiritual quotes are shared with the speed of light, without anyone checking the reliability of the source.
People with commercial goals in mind, profit from this. They create merchandise with these quotes in the hopes that you buy them. Or they create nice looking images with quotes and post them on their social media page, hoping to get a lot of likes and shares, so their page becomes more valuable to advertisers.
There’s nothing wrong with the quote in itself – the problem is that it is being misattributed. Which causes many people to have a wrong idea about Lewis Carroll and his books.
Combining quotes with Alice in Wonderland illustrations
A very common practice is combining a random quote with an illustration from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” or “Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there”. This leads people to assume that the lines can be found in the original story, while they are in fact not from the ‘Alice’ books at all.
Sellers of this kind of merchandise call this ‘artistic licence’. And there indeed is no law that prohibits them from combining quotes and images from different sources. That is, as long as they are not copyright protected.
As imagery from Disney’s live action “Alice in Wonderland” movie (2010) or “Through the Looking Glass” (2016) is under copyright, while Tenniel’s illustrations aren’t, I can imagine why Tenniel’s illustrations are often combined with movie quotes: so the sellers can piggyback on the success of the movies and make money in a legal way. Please don’t support this!
Unfortunately, already several quotes from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass movies are being thought to originate from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ books. Movie quotes that are commonly confused for book quotes are amongst others:
“Have I gone mad?” “I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
“You used to be much more…muchier. You’ve lost your muchness.”
Confusing the author of the quote
Besides merely suggesting a relation between a quote and a book, I’ve also seen many beautiful quotes specifically being attributed to Lewis Carroll. However, most of these quotes are merely in the style of his ‘Alice’ books, but were never actually uttered or written down by him. These quotes are from someone else; sometimes from another famous person, but more often from an anonymous author.
Below are some examples of quotes wrongfully attributed to Lewis Carroll:
Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.
In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take, relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.
Also, there are quotes that are being wrongfully attributed to a character he created, while it never said this – not in a book, nor in a movie:
I’m not crazy. My reality is just different than yours.
(misattributed to the Cheshire Cat)
“How long is forever?” “Sometimes, just one second.”
(misattributed to the White Rabbit)
When you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.
(misattributed to Alice)
Every adventure requires a first step.
(misattributed to the Cheshire Cat)
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
(misattributed to the White Rabbit)
I think the first quote (“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality”) is actually from Jules de Gaultier. The other ones have no traceable author.
Almost, but not quite
Finaly, there are quotes that are quite similar to lines from the ‘Alice’ books, but are not exact quotes. It is understandable that they are easily confused. A very well-known example is:
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.
This resembles the conversation Alice has with the Cheshire Cat (“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go 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 go,” 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.”), but is actually a line from George Harrison’s song “Any Road”.
It is a shame that this is happening, because the Alice books are full of other great quotes! You can find some actual Alice in Wonderland quotes on my site.
Do you have any idea who the real author of one or more of the quotes listed here is? Or do you know of more quotes that are often misattributed to the Alice books or Lewis Carroll? Post them in the comments and help spread awareness!
The post Misattributed Alice in Wonderland / Lewis Carroll quotes appeared first on Alice-in-Wonderland.net.