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

Jo began to dance a jig,...Amy nearly fell out of the window in her surprise, and Meg exclaimed, with uplifted hands, 'Well I do believe the world is coming to an end!

…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.

{Mrs. March to Jo} You are too much alike and too fond of freedom, not to mention hot tempers and strong wills, to get on happily together, in a relation which needs infinite patience and forbearance, as well as love.

Jo's breath gave out here, and wrapping her head in the paper, she bedewed her little story with a few natural tears, for to be independent and earn the praise of those she loved were the dearest wishes of her heart, and this seemed to be the first step toward that happy end.

If life is often so hard as this, I don't see how we ever shall get through it.

The fear of being an old maid made young girls rush into matrimony with a recklessness that astonishes.