Louisa May Alcott Quotes

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“… and Jo laid the rustling sheets together with a careful hand, as one might shut the covers of a lovely romance, which holds the reader fast till the end comes, and he finds himself alone in the work-a-day world again.”

“Woman work a great many miracles.”

“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”

“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.”

“The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.”

“The small hopes and plans and pleasures of children should be tenderly respected by grown-up people, and never rudely thwarted or ridiculed.”

“I hate ordinary people!”

“I love my liberty too well to be in a hurry to give it up for any mortal man.”

“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.”

“…she'll go and fall in love, and there's an end of peace and fun, and cozy times together.”

“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.”

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

“…we're twins, and so we love each other more than other people…”

“…the violin — that most human of all instruments…”

“It takes so little to make a child happy, that it is a pity in a world full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts.”

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

“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.”

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

“I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day.”

“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.”

“He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet everyone was his friend; no longer young, but as happy-hearted as a boy; plain and peculiar, yet his face looked beautiful to many.”

“If I didn't care about doing right and didn't feel uncomfortable doing wrong, I should get on capitally.”

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

“Men are always ready to die for us, but not to make our lives worth having. Cheap sentiment and bad logic.”

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

“Nothing provokes speculation more than the sight of a woman enjoying herself." -”

“Love covers a multitude of sins…”

“I don't like favors; they oppress and make me fell like a slave. I'd rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.”

“…I can't help seeing that you are very lonely, and sometimes there is a hungry look in your eyes that goes to my heart.”

“… for a girl with eyes like hers has a will and is not ruled by anyone but a lover.”

“Many of the bravest never are known, and get no praise. [But]that does not lessen their beauty…”

“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.”

“It takes two flints to make a fire.”

“such hours are beautiful to live, but very hard to describe…”

“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”

“When we make little sacrifices we like to have them appreciated, at least…”

“…Jo loved a few persons very dearly and dreaded to have their affection lost or lessened in any way.”

“But the spirit of Eve is strong in all her daughters.”

“Right Jo better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands.”

“politics were as bad as mathematics, and that the mission of politicians seemed to be calling each other names”

“But, like all happiness, it did not last long…”

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

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

“… freedom being the sauce best beloved by the boyish soul.”

“I do like men who come out frankly and own that they are not gods.”

“…she was one of those happily created beings who please without effort, make friends everywhere, and take life so gracefully and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted to believe that such are born under a lucky star.”

“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.”

“I shall keep my book on the table here, and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good, and help me through the day.”

“A time will come when you will find that in gaining a brief joy you have lost your peace forever.”