The patience and the humility of the face she loved so well was a better lesson to Jo than the wisest lecture, the sharpest reproof.

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.

Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents.

There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.

Fathers and mothers are too absorbed in business and housekeeping to study their children, and cherish that sweet and natural confidence which is a child's surest safeguard, and a parent's subtlest power.

Don't cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.

…men never forgive like women.