35 Cheshire Cat Quotes That Are Just Mad and Manic

Revisit some of the trippiest Cheshire Cat quotes through this collection we’ve created for you!

When you think of the Cheshire Cat, we’re positive the first thing you’ll imagine is his wide and mischievous-looking grin. He’s often described as someone mad and insane, but he’s actually Alice’s guide in her journey.

Alice would have no idea about the things in Wonderland without the Cheshire Cat. In a way, he also serves as our guiding light in life, leaving us with countless lessons to think about.

He looks and sounds crazy on the outside. However, if you really listen to his words, you’ll realize how much of it applies to real life, too—not just in Lewis Carroll’s novel or the Disney movie adaptation.

There’s no doubt that everything about him is fictional. Even so, we must not forget the role he played in the story, Alice’s life, and our lives, too!

Read on and find the most iconic Cheshire Cat quotes. We’ve rounded up the best ones we’re optimistic you’ll learn a lot from!

And don’t forget to check out these Alice in Wonderland quotes and Mad Hatter quotes.

Best Cheshire Cat Quotes

1. Cheshire Cat: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

Alice: “How do you know I’m mad?”

Cheshire Cat: “You must be, or you wouldn’t have come here.”

2. Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

Alice: “I don’t much care where—so long as I get somewhere.”

Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

3. “Imagination is the only weapon in the war with reality.”

4. “Every adventure requires a first step.”

5. “‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!”

6. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.”

7. “No one does play fair if they think they can get away with it.”

8. “Only a few find the way. Some don’t recognize it when they do. Some don’t ever want to.”

9. “You just go where your high-top sneakers sneak, and don’t forget to use your head.”

10. Alice: “And how do you know that you’re mad?”

Cheshire Cat: “To begin with, a dog’s not mad. You grant that?”

Alice: “I suppose so.”

Cheshire Cat: “You see a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”

Trippy Quotes by the Cheshire Cat

11. “Visit either you like; they’re both mad.”

12. “I am not crazy; my reality is just different from yours.”

13. “The proper order of things is often a mystery to me.”

14. “I knew who I was this morning, but I have changed a few times since then.”

15. “Well, some go this way, and some go that way. But as for me, myself, personally, I prefer the shortcut.”

16. “You may have noticed, I’m not all there myself.”

17. “I’m stranger. You’re stranger. Together, we are strangers.”

18. “A rose is still a rose—even hidden under different petals.”

19. “How queer everything is today! And yesterday, things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning?”

20. “You used to be much more—muchier. You’ve lost your muchness.”

Cheshire Cat Quotes From Alice in Wonderland

21. “I went to a hunting party once; I didn’t like it. Terrible people. They all started hunting me!”

22. “Never let anyone drive you crazy; it is nearby anyway, and the walk is good for you.”

23. “If you’re gonna make it to the top, get a grip on this rock, and get a grip on yourself.”

24. “I could hardly afford to lose my head.”

25. “If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.”

Cheshire Cat Quotes to Revisit Lewis Carroll’s Iconic Work

26. “Somehow, you strayed and lost your way, and now there’ll be no time to play, no time for joy, no time for friends—not even time to make amends.”

27. “How puzzling all these changes are! I’m never sure what I’m going to be, from one minute to another.”

28. “When you’ve understood this scripture, throw it away. If you can’t understand this scripture, throw it away. I insist on your freedom.”

29. “How fine you look when dressed in rage. Your enemies are fortunate your condition is not permanent. You’re lucky, too. Red eyes suit so few.”

30. “When the day becomes the night, and the sky becomes the sea, when the clock strikes heavy, and there’s no time for tea; and in our darkest hour, before my final rhyme, she will come back home to Wonderland and turn back the hands of time.”

More Cheshire Cat Sayings and Lines From the Classic Disney Adaptation

31. “Oh, by the way, if you’d really like to know, he went that way.”

32. “Can you stand on your head?”

33. Alice: “Why, why you’re a cat!”

Cheshire Cat: “A Cheshire cat.”

34. Cheshire Cat: “All ways here, you see, are the queen’s ways!”

Alice: “But I’ve never met any queen.”

Cheshire Cat: “You haven’t? You haven’t? Oh, but you must! She’ll be mad about you, simply mad!”

35. Cheshire Cat: “If I were looking for a white rabbit, I’d ask the Mad Hatter.”

Alice: “The Mad Hatter? Oh, no, no, no.”

Cheshire Cat: “Or, you could ask the March Hare—in that direction.”

What’s Your Favorite Cheshire Cat Quote?

Everything about Cheshire Cat might seem trippy. His looks, wide grin, how he talks, and what he says make our heads roll around in circles.

However, two of his most famous lines teach us things about life in a way that we won’t get from any other fictional character. For one, the Cheshire Cat helps us realize that we’re all mad in one way or another.

Each of us has our quirks and crazy habits that some people might not understand. We shouldn’t be ashamed of them; instead, we must embrace them entirely because they constitute our uniqueness!

Secondly, the Cheshire Cat teaches us that we must know where we want to go in life. If you keep moving forward without a goal in mind, then yes, you’ll move, but nothing you do will ever yield a beneficial consequence; there will never be any real progress.

Be purposeful in everything you do! That way, you’ll ensure that none of your effort and time is wasted.

With that, we hope we were able to help you gain a new understanding of what the Cheshire Cat’s character symbolizes. Remember the lessons you’ve learned in this collection, and always live by them!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.