Louisa May Alcott Quotes

{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.

Energy is more attractive than beauty in a man.

I think this power of living in our children is one of the sweetest things in the world.

...and clung more closely to the dear human love, from which our Father never means us to be weaned, but through which He draws us closer to Himself.

Because they are mean is no reason why I should be. I hate such things, and though I think I've a right to be hurt, I don't intend to show it. (Amy March)

People want to be amused, not preached at, you know. Morals don't sell nowadays.

And the good fairy said, I won't leave you money or pretty dresses but I will leave you the spirit to seek your fortune from your own efforts.

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

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

Have your fun, my dear; but if you must earn your bread, try to make it sweet with cheerfulness, not bitter with the daily regret that it isn't cake.

Oh dear, life is pretty tough sometimes, isn't it?

The scar will remain, but it is better for a man to lose both arms than his soul; and these hard years, instead of being lost, may be made the most precious of your lives, if they teach you to rule yourselves.

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.

Life is like college; may I graduate and earn some honors.

Love is a beautifier.

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.

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

It's a great comfort to have an artistic sister.

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

Don't shut yourself up in a band box because you are a woman, but understand what is going on, and educate yourself to take part in the world's work, for it all affects you and yours.

We've got minds and souls as well as hearts; ambition and talents as well as beauty and accomplishments; and we want to live and learn as well as love and be loved. I'm sick of being told that is all a woman is fit for! I won't have anything to do with love until I prove that I am something beside a housekeeper and a baby-tender!

The dirt is picturesque, so I don't mind.

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.

During the fifteen minutes that followed, the proud and sensitive girl suffered a shame and pain which she never forgot. To others it might seem a ludicrous or trivial affair, but to her it was a hard experience, for during the twelve years of her life she had been governed by love alone

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.

Oh, Jo, how could you? Your one beauty.

Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow.

…often between ourselves and those nearest and dearest to us there exists a reserve which it is very hard to overcome.

...Meg learned to love her husband better for his poverty, because it seem to have made a man of him, giving him the strength and courage to fight his own way, and taught him a tender patience with which to bear and comfort the natural longings and failures of those he loved.

The young people were playing that still more absorbing game in which hearts are always trumps.

[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.

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 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

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.

A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.

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

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

I've neither beauty, money, nor rank, yet every foolish boy mistakes my frank interest for something warmer, and makes me miserable. It is my misfortune. Think of me what you will, but beware of me in time, for against my will I may do you harm.

I'm tired of praise; and love is very sweet, when it is simple and sincere like this.

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

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.

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

I am angry nearly every day of my life, but I have learned not to show it; and I still try to hope not to feel it, though it may take me another forty years to do it.

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

Love scenes, if genuine, are indescribable; for to those who have enacted them the most elaborate description seems tame, and to those who have not, the simplest picture seems overdone.

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.

Liberty must not be abused.

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