The different branches of Arithmetic -- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.
Lewis Carroll
- Author
- Lewis Carroll
- Year
- 1865
- Genres
- fairy tale, literary nonsense, children's fiction
Facts: Wikidata (CC0), as of 2026-07-09
Lewis Carroll's wordplay is the engine: the Mock Turtle's school subjects -- 'Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision' -- are arithmetic run through a dream. But check your Alice quotes against the 1865 text: 'You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret: all the best people are' is from the 2010 Tim Burton film, not Carroll, and it is now printed on mugs as if it were Victorian. Carroll's own madness exchange -- 'We're all mad here' -- is stranger and far less consoling.