Louisa May Alcott quotes:

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  • You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

  • I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.

  • We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing.

  • Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

  • Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.

  • Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.

  • You may try your experiment for a week and see how you like it. I think by Saturday night you will find that all play and no work is as bad as all work and no play

  • Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

  • Father asked us what was God's noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad, but babies never are.

  • My definition (of a philosopher) is of a man up in a balloon, with his family and friends holding the ropes which confine him to earth and trying to haul him down.

  • Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive.

  • "Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.

  • Beth could not reason upon or explain the faith that gave her courage and patience to give up life, and cheerfully wait for death. Like a confiding child, she asked no questions, but left everything to God and nature, Father and Mother of us all, feeling sure that they, and they only, could teach and strengthen heart and spirit for this life and the life to come.

  • Beth ceased to fear him from that moment, and sat there talking to him as cozily as if she had known him all her life, for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.

  • The moment Aunt March took her nap, or was busy with company, Jo hurried to this quiet place, and curling herself up in the easy chair, devoured poetry, romance, history, travels, and pictures like a regular bookworm.

  • You are like a chestnut burr, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel, if one can only get at it. Love will make you show your heart some day, and then the rough burr will fall off.

  • Let us be elegant or die! --Amy

  • Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us - and those around us - more effectively. Look for the learning.

  • Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes.

  • Boys don't gush, so I can stand it. The last time I let in a party of girls, one fell into my arms and said, "Darling, love me!" I wanted to shake her,' answered Mrs. Jo, wiping her pen with energy."

  • Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. "It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress. "I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff. "We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner.

  • [Jo to her mother] I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it and now it's worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family.

  • Go out more, keep cheerful as well as busy, for you are the sunshine-maker of the family, and if you get dismal there is no fair weather."

  • I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.

  • Work is and always has been my salvation and I thank the Lord for it.

  • the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy.

  • This love of money is the curse of American, and for the sake of it men will sell honor and honesty, till we don't know whom to trust, and it is only a genius like Agassiz who dares to say, 'I cannot waste my time in getting rich,' said Mrs. Jessie sadly.

  • Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is.

  • Mrs. Jo did not mean the measles, but that more serious malady called love, which is apt to ravage communities, spring and autumn, when winter gayety and summer idleness produce whole bouquets of engagements, and set young people to pairing off like the birds."

  • These attributes, in spite of poverty and the strict integrity which shut him out from the more worldly successes, attracted to him many admirable persons, as naturally as sweet herbs draw bees, and as naturally he gave them the honey into which fifty years of hard experience had distilled no bitter drop."

  • Gentlemen, be courteous to the old maids, no matter how poor and plain and prim, for the only chivalry worth having is that which is the readiest to to pay deference to the old, protect the feeble, and serve womankind, regardless of rank, age, or color.

  • Conceit spoils the finest genius?and the great charm of all power is modesty.

  • He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.

  • He looked at her an instant, for the effect of the graceful girlish figure with pale, passionate face and dark eyes full of sorrow, pride and resolution was wonderfully enhanced by the gloom of the great room, and glimpses of a gathering storm in the red autumn sky.

  • Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.

  • Meg's high-heeled slippers were dreadfully tight, and hurt her, though she would not own it; and Jo's nineteen hair-pins all seemed stuck straight into her head, which was not exactly comfortable; but, dear me, let us be elegant or die.

  • He was the first, the only love her life, and in a nature like hers such passions take deep root and die-hard.

  • A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure.

  • Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.

  • Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.

  • I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)

  • Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can

  • Don't laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragic romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under the sober gowns, and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself, make the faded faces beautiful in God's sight. Even the sad, sour sisters should be kindly dealt with, because they have missed the sweetest part of life, if for no other reason.

  • The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.

  • You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.

  • I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I'm not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.

  • Honesty is the best policy, in love as in law ...

  • Housekeeping ain't no joke.

  • Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.

  • A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.

  • Mothers can forgive anything! Tell me all, and be sure that I will never let you go, though the whole world should turn from you.

  • It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.

  • I'll try to be what Father loves to call me, a 'little woman,' and not be rough and wild but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere else.

  • life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.

  • I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands." "They're not empty now.

  • Wealth is certainly a most desirable thing, but poverty has its sunny side, and one of the sweet uses of adversity is the genuine satisfaction which comes from hearty work of head or hand, and to the inspiration of necessity, we owe half the wise, beautiful, and useful blessings of the world.

  • Back to him she would never go, but in her lonely life still lived the sweet memory of that happy time when she believed in him and he was all in all to her.

  • In the midst of her tears came the thought, "When people are in danger, they ask God to save them;" and, slipping down upon her knees, she said her prayer as she had never said it before, for when human help seems gone we turn to Him as naturally as lost children cry to their father, and feel sure that he will hear and answer them.

  • Love and Loyalty If ever men and women are their simplest, sincerest selves, it is when suffering softens the one, and sympathy strengthens the other.

  • ...the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy.

  • The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.

  • They were enjoying the happy hour that seldom comes but once in any life, the magical moment which bestows youth on the old, beauty on the plain, wealth on the poor, and gives human hearts a foretaste of heaven.

  • We'll all grow up someday, Meg, we might as well know what we want. ~Amy March~

  • John Brooke is acting dreadfully, and Meg likes it!

  • We'll all grow up Meg, no pretending we won't.

  • Is it not meningitis?

  • What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?

  • November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year.

  • Persuasive influences are better than any amount of moralizing.

  • It takes very little fire to make a great deal of smoke nowadays, and notoriety is not real glory.

  • Good, old-fashioned ways keep hearts sweet, heads sane, hands busy.

  • In the books I read the sinners are always more interesting than the saints, and in real life good people are dismally dull. I've no desire to be wicked, but I do want to be happy. A short life and a gay one for me and I'm willing to pay for my pleasure if it is necessary.

  • I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all.

  • Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.

  • Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.

  • I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queen's on thrones, without self-respect and peace.

  • Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.

  • Oft in the silence of the night, When the lonely moon rides high, When wintry winds are whistling, And we hear the owl's shrill cry, In the quiet, dusky chamber, By the flickering firelight, Rising up between two sleepers, Comes a spirit all in white.

  • Rivalry adds so much to the charms of one's conquests.

  • Presently, out from the wrappings came a teapot, which caused her to clasp her hands with delight, for it was made in the likeness of a plump little Chinaman ... Two pretty cups with covers, and a fine scarlet tray, completed the set, and made one long to have a dish of tea, even in Chinese style, without cream or sugar.

  • Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.

  • This love of money is the curse of American, and for the sake of it men will sell honor and honesty, till we don't know whom to trust, and it is only a genius like Agassiz who dares to say, 'I cannot waste my time in getting rich,'" said Mrs. Jessie sadly.

  • ridicule is often harder to bear than self-denial.

  • Color makes no difference; the peeps are gray, the seals are black, and the crabs yellow; but we don't care, and are all friends. It is very unkind to treat you so.

  • She preferred imaginary heroes to real ones, because when tired of them, the former could be shut up in the tin kitchen till called for, and the latter were less manageable.

  • Prosperity suits some people, and they blossom best in a glow of sunshine; others need the shade, and are the sweeter for a touch of frost.

  • Love Jo all your days, if you choose, but don't let it spoil you, for it's wicked to throw away so many good gifts because you can't have the one you want.

  • Where's the use of looking nice, when no one sees me but those cross midgets, and no one cares whether I'm pretty or not?

  • I ask not for any crownBut that which all may win;Nor try to conquer any worldExcept the one within.

  • Conceit spoils the finest genius.

  • Dear me! how happy and good we'd be, if we had no worries!

  • It's lovely to see people so happy.

  • Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.

  • Polly tried to conquer the bad feeling; but it worried her, till she remembered something her mother once said to her: "When you feel out of sorts, try to make someone else happy, and you will soon be so yourself.

  • I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.

  • Madam de Stael pronounced architecture to be frozen music; so is statuary crystalized spirituality.

  • A quick temper, sharp tongue, and restless spirit were always getting her into scrapes, and her life was a series of ups and downs, which were both comic and pathetic.

  • You have grown abominably lazy, and you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly people, instead of being loved and respected by wise ones.

  • Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.

  • I'm afraid I couldn't like him without a spice of human naughtiness.

  • To me, love isn't all. I must look up, not down, trust and honor with my whole heart, and find strenght and integrity to lean on

  • The emerging woman ... will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied...strength and beauty must go together.

  • strength and beauty must go hand in hand

  • To be strong, and beautiful, and go round making music all the time. Yes, she could do that, and with a very earnest prayer Polly asked for the strength of an upright soul, the beauty of a tender heart, the power to make her life a sweet and stirring song, helpful while it lasted, remembered when it died.

  • I may be strong-minded, but no one can say I'm out of my sphere now, for woman's special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens

  • I believe that it is as much a right and duty for women to do something with their lives as for men and we are not going to be satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us.

  • Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it.

  • If you dear little girls would only learn what real beauty is, and not pinch and starve and bleach yourselves out so, you'd save an immense deal of time and money and pain. A happy soul in a healthy body makes the best sort of beauty for man or woman.

  • Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.

  • My book came out; and people began to think that topsy-turvy Louisa would amount to something after all.

  • People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust world.

  • Her beauty satisfied [his] artistic eye, her peculiarities piqued his curiosity, her vivacity lightened his ennui, and her character interested him by the unconscious hints it gave of power, pride and passion. So entirely natural and unconventional was she that he soon found himself on a familiar footing, asking all manner of unusual questions, and receiving rather piquant replies.

  • Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex, as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.

  • She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.

  • Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.

  • Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.

  • . . . for when women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do. Then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it. If it fails, they generously give her the whole.

  • ... because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man.

  • ... for it is the small temptations which undermine integrity unless we watch and pray and never think them too trivial to be resisted.

  • ... swept into the giddy vortex which keeps so many young people revolving aimlessly, till they go down or are cast upon the shore, wrecks of what they might have been

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