100 Awesome Quotes By Louisa May Alcott, The Author Of Little Women

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

  

I like good strong words that mean something…

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

  

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

  

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.

  

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

Life

  

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

  

Your father, Jo. He never loses patience, never doubts or complains, but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him.

Never

  

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

  

Love Jo all your days, if you choose, but don't let it spoil you, for it's wicked to throw away so many good gifts because you can't have the one you want.

  

I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.

  

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.

Think

  

Love is a great beautifier.

  

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)

Think

  

Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.

Never , Think , Trying

  

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

  

Let us be elegant or die!

  

I want to do something splendid...something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.

  

Don't try to make me grow up before my time…

Me

  

Be worthy love, and love will come.

  

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)

Never

  

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

  

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

  

...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.

  

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

  

Conceit spoils the finest genius.

  

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

  

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.

  

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.

Life

  

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

Together

  

That is a good book it seems to me, which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.

Me

  

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

  

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

  

Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.

  

She preferred imaginary heroes to real ones, because when tired of them, the former could be shut up in the tin kitchen till called for, and the latter were less manageable.

  

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

  

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 just for the fun of it. --Laurie

Never

  

Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.

Never

  

Laurie, you're an angel! How shall I ever thank you?" "Fly at me again. I rather liked it," said Laurie, looking mischievous, a thing he had not done for a fortnight.

Me

  

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.

Think

  

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

  

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

Life , Like

  

I wish I had no heart, it aches so…

  

Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us - and those around us - more effectively. Look for the learning.

  

Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.

  

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.

Life

  

I could have been a great many things.

  

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.

  

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

Life

  

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

  

…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.

  

I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands." "They're not empty now.

  

Jo had learned that hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally…

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

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

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I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it's good for me…

  

Jo's eyes sparkled, for it's always pleasant to be believed in; and a friend's praise is always sweeter than a dozen newspaper puffs.

  

…because talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.

  

Woman work a great many miracles.

  

Some stories are so familiar its like going home.

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

Never

  

You have grown abominably lazy, and you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly people, instead of being loved and respected by wise ones.

Like , Time

  

I love my liberty too well to be in a hurry to give it up for any mortal man.

  

... for it is the small temptations which undermine integrity unless we watch and pray and never think them too trivial to be resisted.

Never , Think

  

He was the first, the only love her life, and in a nature like hers such passions take deep root and die-hard.

Life , Like

  

I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I'm not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.

Never

  

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.

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…she'll go and fall in love, and there's an end of peace and fun, and cozy times together.

Peace , Together

  

…the violin — that most human of all instruments…

  

We'll all grow up Meg, no pretending we won't.

  

I hate ordinary people!

  

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.

Me , Never

  

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.

  

The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.

  

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

  

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

  

What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?

  

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

  

…we're twins, and so we love each other more than other people…

  

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

  

It’s amazing how lovely common things become, if one only knows how to look at them.

  

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

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Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.

  

Many of the bravest never are known, and get no praise. [But]that does not lessen their beauty...

Never

  

To me, love isn't all. I must look up, not down, trust and honor with my whole heart, and find strenght and integrity to lean on

Me

  

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.

  

...but, dear me, let us be elegant or die.

Me

  

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

  

He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet everyone was his friend; no longer young, but as happy-hearted as a boy; plain and peculiar, yet his face looked beautiful to many.

  

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

  

But the spirit of Eve is strong in all her daughters.

  

Love covers a multitude of sins…

  

Better lose your life than your soul…

Life

  

When we make little sacrifices we like to have them appreciated, at least…

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Such hours are beautiful to live, but very hard to describe…

  

It takes two flints to make a fire.

  

…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.

  

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

  

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

  

…Jo loved a few persons very dearly and dreaded to have their affection lost or lessened in any way.