Louisa May Alcott Quotes

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.

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

where I wholly love I wholly trust.

My book came out; and people began to think that topsy-turvy Louisa would amount to something after all.

A holiday isn't a holiday, without plenty of freedom and fun.

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

I don't like favors; they oppress and make me fell like a slave. I'd rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.

Some stories are so familiar its like going home.

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

…to the inspiration of necessity, we owe half the wise, beautiful, and useful blessings of the world.

I went [to war] because I couldn't help it. I didn't want the glory or the pay; I wanted the right thing done.

...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.

Woman work a great many miracles.

But please hug and kiss me, everyone, and don't mind my dress, I want a great many crumples of this sort put into it today.

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

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

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

Energy is more attractive than beauty in a man.

Nothing seemed impossible in the beginning.

Well, I am happy, and I won't fret, but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants.

Now I'm beginning to live a little and feel less like a sick oyster at low tide.

...and the most intense desire gave force to her passionate words as the girl glanced despairingly about the dreary room like a caged creature on the point of breaking loose.

I'm afraid I couldn't like him without a spice of human naughtiness.

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

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

I only mean to say that I have a feeling that it never was intended I should live long. I'm not like the rest of you.

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

I think we are all hopelessly flawed.

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

Six weeks is a long time to wait, and a still longer time for a girl to keep a secret.

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

Dear me, if men and women would only trust, understand, and help one another as my children do, what a capital place the world would be!

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.

I asked for bread, and I got a stone in the shape of a pedestal.

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

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

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

...and best of all, the wilderness of books, in which she could wander, where she liked, made the library a region of bliss to her.

Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety; it shows itself in acts rather than words, and has more influence than homilies or protestations.

I'm perfectly miserable; but if you consider me presentable, I die happy.

Cheerfulness can change misfortune into love and friends.

I put in my list all the busy, useful independent spinsters I know, for liberty is a better husband than love to many of us.

Nothing remained but loneliness and grief.

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

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

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.

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

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

…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.

Youth, health and freedom were meant to be enjoyed and I want to try every pleasure before I am too old to enjoy them.