Louisa May Alcott Quotes

He danced like a grasshopper on fire,

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.

Is it not meningitis?

Because, what?" "You won't tell?" "Never!" "Well, I have a bad trick

I will make a battering-ram of my head and make a way through this rough-and-tumble world.

What shall you do all your vacation?', asked Amy. "I shall lie abed and do nothing", replied Meg.

Yes, you do. You get everything you want out of people. I don't know how you do it, but you are a born wheedler." "Thank you. Fire away.

Some stories are so familiar its like going home.

My father taught in the wise way which unfolds what lies in the child

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

You don't need scores of suitors. You need only one ... if he's the right one.

Mine first --mine last-- mine even in the grave!

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

I haven't got any mother, you know.

Di wrestled with her knitting as if it were Fate, and she were paying off the grudge she owed

Their best; get them out into the air; and cure their ills by the magnetism of more active,

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

Leave him free, and the mere sense of liberty would content him, joined to the knowledge that his presence was dear to those whom he loved best.

If we are all alive ten years hence, let's meet, and see how many of us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now.

Ridicule is often harder to bear than self-denial.

I don't worry about the storms, I am learning to sail my own ship.

I sell my children, and though they feed me, they don't love me as hers do.

If Jo is a tomboy and Amy a goose, what

The girls put their wits to work, and - necessity being the mother of invention - made whatever they needed.

I did fail, say what you will, for Jo wouldn't love me.

Mothers have need of sharp eyes and discreet tongues
when they have girls to manage

You think then, that it is better to have a few duties and live a little for others, do you?

It is one of her aristocratic tastes, and quite proper, for a real lady is always known by neat boots, gloves, and handkerchief.

I could have been a great many things.

I don't see why God made any night; day is so much pleasanter ...

It's lovely to see people so happy.

I suspect that the real attraction was a large library of fine books, which was left to dust and spiders since Uncle March died.

You have been running, Jo. How could you? When will you stop such romping ways? said Meg reprovingly.

To the great delight of two ducks, four cats, five hens and half a dozen Irish children; for they were out of the city for now.

Here's Meg married and a mamma, Amy flourishing away at Paris, and Beth in love. I'm the only one that has sense enough to keep out of mischief.

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

Wouldn't it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true and we could live in them?

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

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

It is an excellent plan to have some place where we can go to be quiet, when things vex or grieve us.

For a girl with eyes like hers has a will and is not ruled by anyone but a lover.

Rule yourself. Love your neighbor. Do the duty that lies nearest you.

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

A capital patient, as she never died and never got well.

Now and then genius carries all before it, but not often. We have to climb slowly, with many slips and falls.

Many men can be what the world calls great: very few men are what God calls good.

A love for good books was one of the best safeguards a man could have,

Souls and bodies should go on together.

Now I am beginning to live a little and feel less like a sick oyster at low tide.

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

That boy is a perfect cyclops, isn't he? said Amy one day, as Laurie clattered by on horseback, with a flourish of his whip as he passed.

Persuasive influences are better than any amount of moralizing.

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

many queer things passed through it as through

There, I've done my best. If that wont do, I shall have to wait till I can do better.

The big house did prove a Palace Beautiful, though it took some time for

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

So I did, Beth. Well, I think we are. For though we do have to work, we make fun of ourselves,

I was thinking what a curious thing love is; only a sentiment, and yet it has power to make fools of men and slaves of women.

I'm so fond of luxury

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

I think she is growing up, and so begins to dream dreams, and have hopes and fears and fidgets, without knowing why or being able to explain them.

if all else fails you can read

It was easier to do a friendly thing than it was to stay and be thanked for it.

I went [to war] because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory or the pay; I wanted the right thing done.

Dolls are safe companions.

How beautiful that is! said Laurie softly, for he was quick to see and feel beauty of any kind.

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

It takes three or four women to get each man into, through, and out of the world.

We've got Father and Mother, and each other, said Beth contentedly from her corner.

Blowzy head to her shoulder and kissing the wet cheek so tenderly that Jo cried even harder.

Better destroy the body than the soul.'" ~Rosamond

It is necessary to do right; it is not necessary to be happy.

George is regularly jolly; though now he's a minister,

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

Into each life some rain must fall, Somedays must be dark and sad and dreary.

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.

Love is a great beautifier.

All is fish that comes to the literary net. Goethe puts his joys and sorrows into poems, I turn my adventures into bread and butter.

I often think flowers are the angels' alphabet whereby they write on hills and fields mysterious and beautiful lessons for us to feel and learn.

... the violin - that most human of all instruments ...

Remember that frost comes latest to those that bloom the highest.

operatic tragedy began.

it's easier for me to risk my life for a person than to be pleasant to him when I don't feel like it. It's

Oh, Mother, help me, do help me!

Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.

To marry without love betrays as surely as to love without marriage ...

Miss Kate, though twenty, was dressed with a simplicity which American girls would do well to imitate,

I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world!

Many argue; not many converse.

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

I'm a bashful individual, though I can't get anyone to believe it ...

That's the interferingest chap I ever see,

Well, if I can't be happy, I can be useful, perhaps.

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

For love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.

The mere possession of a gun is, in itself, an urge to kill, not only by design, but by accident, by madness, by fright, by bravado.

I like adventures, and I'm going to find some.

Well, I am happy, and I won't fret, but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants ...

When you feel discontented, think over your blessings, and be grateful.