Louisa May Alcott famous quotes

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Inspirational #Confidence #Wisdom

The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Happiness #Beauty #Home

Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Life #Clouds #Light

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Inspirational #Being Strong #Lonely

I ask not for any crown But that which all may win; Nor try to conquer any world Except the one within.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Inspirational #Wisdom #Winning

Love is a great beautifier.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Love #Life #Boyfriend

Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Happiness #Mother #Son

We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Life #Dream #Believe

Marmee: Oh, Jo. Jo, you have so many extraordinary gifts; how can you expect to lead an ordinary life? You’re ready to go out and – and find a good use for your talent. Tho’ I don’t know what I shall do without my Jo. Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Liberty #Ordinary #Use

It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Time #Learning #Men

I like to help women help themselves, as that is, in my opinion, the best way to settle the woman question. Whatever we can do and do well we have a right to, and I don't think any one will deny us.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Thinking #Literature #Way

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Book #Reading #Learning

I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Adventure

Every house needs a grandmother in it.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Grandmother #Grandparent #House

Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Book #Reading #Home

I like good strong words that mean something…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Strong #Mean #Little Women

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

#Queens #Women #Long

It takes two flints to make a fire.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Love #Inspirational #Inspiring

I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Coffee #Compliment

Education is not confined to books, and the finest characters often graduate from no college, but make experience their master, and life their book. [Some care] only for the mental culture, and [are] in danger of over-studying, under the delusion . . . that learning must be had at all costs, forgetting that health and real wisdom are better.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Real #Book #Character

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.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Love #Sweet #Fall

You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Real #Conceited #Long

...a capital patient, as she never died and never got well.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Patient #Wells

... swept into the giddy vortex which keeps so many young people revolving aimlessly, till they go down or are cast upon the shore, wrecks of what they might have been
-- Louisa May Alcott

#People #Vortex #Wrecks

A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Freedom #Feelings #Tasks

Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Inspirational #Truth #Names

Father asked us what was God's noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad, but babies never are.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Fathers Day #Baby #Work

Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Girl #Fun #Mean

To be strong, and beautiful, and go round making music all the time. Yes, she could do that, and with a very earnest prayer Polly asked for the strength of an upright soul, the beauty of a tender heart, the power to make her life a sweet and stirring song, helpful while it lasted, remembered when it died.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Beautiful #Sweet #Song

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.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Girl #Fashion #Silly

I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Fresh Start #March #Used

Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex, as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Fall #Writing #Heart

Don't laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragic romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under the sober gowns, and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself, make the faded faces beautiful in God's sight. Even the sad, sour sisters should be kindly dealt with, because they have missed the sweetest part of life, if for no other reason.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Beautiful #Girl #Women

I want to do something splendid… Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead… I think I shall write books.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Book #Writing #Thinking

...for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Gratitude #Pride #Conquer

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.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Mom #Mother #Forgiving

Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Sunshine #People #Shadow

You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Needs #Suitors #Score

Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Sweet #Flower #Winter

Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Book #Good Friend #Select

If you feel your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that’s all that you really are. Time erodes all such beauty, but what it cannot diminish is the wonderful workings of your mind: Your humor, your kindness, and your moral courage. These are the things I cherish so in you. I so wish I could give my girls a more just world. But I know you’ll make it a better place." -- Marmee, Little Women
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Girl #Kindness #Lying

Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Memories #Forget You #Forget

Gentlemen, be courteous to the old maids, no matter how poor and plain and prim, for the only chivalry worth having is that which is the readiest to to pay deference to the old, protect the feeble, and serve womankind, regardless of rank, age, or color.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Color #Gentleman #Age

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

#Book #Soul #Body

A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Girl #Real #Gentleman

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

#Love #Life #Diversity

Let us be elegant or die! --Amy
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Amy

Life is like college; may I graduate and earn some honors.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Life #Graduation #Education

The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Christmas #Winter #Sunshine

Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Art #Nature #Flower

Better lose your life than your soul…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Soul #Your Soul

Is it not meningitis?
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Dying #Meningitis #Last Words

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

#Fear #Worry #Storm

…books are always good company if you have the right sort. Let me pick out some for you.' And Mrs. Jo made a bee-line to the well-laden shelves, which were the joy of her heart and the comfort of her life.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Book #Heart #Joy

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

#Keys #Air #Doors

Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Determined #Impossible #Nothing Is Impossible

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

#Strong #Wind #Sea

Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Needs

…we're twins, and so we love each other more than other people…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#People #Twins

Good, old-fashioned ways keep hearts sweet, heads sane, hands busy.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Sweet #Heart #Hands

I think immortality is the passing of a soul through many lives or experiences, and such as are truly lived, used and learned, help on to the next, each growing richer, happier and higher, carrying with it only the real memories of what has gone before.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Memories #Real #Thinking

"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Friendship #Teacher #Vocabulary

Human minds are more full of mysteries than any written book and more changeable than the cloud shapes in the air.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Book #Clouds #Air

I could have been a great many things.
-- Louisa May Alcott

Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Inspirational #Money #Business

life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Life And Love #And Love #Little Women

Poor dull Concord. Nothing colorful has come through here since the Redcoats.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Dull #Poor #Colorful

…proved that woman isn't a half but a whole human being, and can stand alone.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Half #Stand Alone #Humans

Don't try to make me grow up before my time…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Growing Up #Trying #Grows

...the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Children #Parenting #Effort

...for a girl with eyes like hers has a will and is not ruled by anyone but a lover.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Girl #Eye #Lovers

…tomorrow was her birthday, and she was thinking how fast the years went by, how old she was getting, and how little she seemed to have accomplished. Almost twenty-five and nothing to show for it.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Thinking #Years #Twenties

We can't any of us do all we would like, but we can do our best for every case that comes to us, and that helps amazingly.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Helping #Cases

…it is so much better to work for others than for one's self alone.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Self

…that's what old people are here for, — else their experience is of little use.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#People #Use #Littles

One of the sweet things about pain and sorrow is that they show us how well we are loved, how much kindness there is in the world, and how easily we can make others happy in the same way when they need help and sympathy.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Sweet #Pain #Kindness

I can get on with wild beasts first-rate; but men rile me awfully…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Men #Firsts #Beast

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.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Lonely #Children #Heart

…on some occasions, women, like dreams, go by contraries.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Dream #Little Women #Occasions

…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.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Lonely #Eye #Heart

We don't choose our talents; but we needn't hide them in a napkin because they are not just what we want.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Want #Napkins #Talent

A quick temper, sharp tongue, and restless spirit were always getting her into scrapes, and her life was a series of ups and downs, which were both comic and pathetic.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Tongue #Spirit #Comic

I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it's good for me…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Lonely #Sometimes #Dare

…marriage, they say, halves one's rights and doubles one's duties.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Rights #Half #Duty

…what splendid dreams young people build upon a word, and how bitter is the pain when the bright bubbles burst.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Dream #Pain #People

Right Jo better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Girl #Running #Husband

Young people think they never can change, but they do in the most wonderful manner, and very few die of broken hearts.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Heart #Thinking #People

Men are always ready to die for us, but not to make our lives worth having. Cheap sentiment and bad logic.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Men #Logic #Ready

Dan clung to her in speechless gratitude, feeling the blessedness of mother love, — that divine gift which comforts, purifies, and strengthens all who seek it.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Mother #Gratitude #Feelings

…men never forgive like women.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Men #Forgiving #Never Forgive

…the violin — that most human of all instruments…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Violin #Instruments #Humans

But, Polly, a principle that can't bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, isn't worthy of the name.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Names #Principles #Bears

It's lovely to see people so happy.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#People #Lovely

Our actions are in our own hands, but the consequences of them are not. Remember that, my dear, and think twice before you do anything.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Thinking #Hands #Our Actions

I do like men who come out frankly and own that they are not gods.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Men

…misfortune was much more interesting to her than good luck.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Good Luck #Interesting #Luck

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

#Sweet #Tired #Love Is

…she rejoiced as only mothers can in the good fortunes of their children.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Mother #Children #Fortune

I think this power of living in our children is one of the sweetest things in the world…
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Mother #Children #Thinking

Prosperity suits some people, and they blossom best in a glow of sunshine; others need the shade, and are the sweeter for a touch of frost.
-- Louisa May Alcott

#Sunshine #People #Suits