Lewis Carroll

Believing the Impossible Before Breakfast

From there, the quote quietly challenges adult seriousness. Children often accept improbable scenarios with ease, not because they lack intelligence, but because their models of the world are still flexible. As we age, skepticism becomes a form of self-protection, yet it can harden into reflexive dismissal. Carroll’s breakfast-time boast proposes an alternative: keep skepticism, but loosen the grip. If belief can be tried on temporarily—like a costume—then the mind can explore without committing to gullibility. [...]

We Are Not Yesterday: Identity in Motion

Moreover, modern science sharpens the point. The brain rewires with learning; synapses strengthen and prune across the lifespan. Recalling a memory can even render it malleable and subject to updating, a process called reconsolidation (Nader, Schafe, and LeDoux 2000). Psychologists also describe the “end of history illusion”: adults believe they have changed a lot up to now but will change little henceforth, a bias documented by Quoidbach, Gilbert, and Wilson in Science (2013). Alice resists that illusion; she expects tomorrow’s self to differ again. [...]

Choose Roads by First Choosing a Destination

From this premise, we move to a classic insight: purposes determine processes. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics posits telos—an end or aim—as the organizing principle of action; things are understood by what they are for. Likewise, Seneca’s maritime maxim captures it pithily: “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable” (Letters to Lucilius, c. 65 CE). In other words, even abundant resources—time, talent, tailwinds—merely accelerate drift if the destination remains undefined. [...]

Which Way Should I Go? - Lewis Carroll

This question reflects the universal human desire for guidance and clarity in life. It symbolizes the moment of uncertainty when one seeks advice or a path to follow. [...]

In the End, We Only Regret the Chances We Didn't Take - Lewis Carroll

This quote stresses the importance of seizing opportunities. It suggests that as we look back on our lives, the moments we didn't act on or the risks we didn't take are what we regret the most. [...]