Article February 17, 1986 Issue

On believing impossible things

BARBARA R. BANKS

"Alice laughed. '... one can't believe impossible things.'

" 'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. '... Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.' "^{Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (New York: Signet Classics, 1960), p. 174 [chap. V].}

Have you sometimes found yourself believing impossible things, and without even practicing? I have—quite often—before breakfast and after breakfast! Such things as: "Don't feel very well this morning." "So much to do today, I'll never get through it all." "This electricity bill is very high, the taxes are due next week, and when they are paid there will scarcely be enough left to last the rest of the month." And so on and so on, until they come to quite six.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Looking for love ... and finding it