Louisa May Alcott

“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.”

“...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.”

“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.”

“...freedom being the sauce best beloved by the boyish soul.”

“Let us be elegant or die!”

“...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.”

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

“Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.”

“There were six dolls to be taken up and dressed every morning, for Beth was a child still, and loved her pets as well as ever. Not one whole or handsome one among them; all were outcasts till Beth took them in; for, when her sisters outgrew these idols, they passed to her.... Beth cherished them all the more tenderly for that very reason, and set up a hospital for infirm dolls. No pins were ever stuck into their cotton vitals; no harsh words or blows were ever given them; no neglect ever saddened the heart of the most repulsive: but all were fed and clothed, nursed and caressed, with an affection which never failed.”

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

“Love is a great beautifier.”

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

“All the worse for the undeniable talent which hides the evil so subtly and makes the danger so delightful.”

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

“...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”

“...a capital patient, as she never died and never got well.”

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

“I’m not like the rest of you; I never made any plans about what I’d do when I grew up; I never thought of being married, as you did. I couldn’t seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there. I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is leaving you all. I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.”

“Queen of my tub, I merrily sing,While the white foam rises high,And sturdily wash, and rinse, and wring,And fasten the clothes to dry; Then out in the free fresh air they swing,Under the sunny sky.I wish we could wash from our hearts and our soulsThe stains of the week away,And let water and air by their magic makeOurselves as pure as they; Then on the earth there would be indeedA glorious washing-day!Along the path of a useful lifeWill heart's-ease ever bloom; The busy mind has no time to thinkOf sorrow, or care, or gloom; And anxious thoughts may be swept awayAs we busily wield a broom.I am glad a task to me is givenTo labor at day by day;For it brings me health, and strength, and hope,And I cheerfully learn to say-"Head, you may think; Heart, you may feel;But Hand, you shall work always!”

“My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning, and may be many; but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother.”

“...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.”

“Persuasive influences are better than any amount of moralizing.”

“No, dear, but speaking of Father reminded me how much I miss him, how much I owe him, and how faithfully I should watch and work to keep his little daughters safe and good for him.Yet you told him to go, Mother, and didn’t cry when he went, and never complain now, or seem as if you needed any help, said Jo, wondering.I gave my best to the country I love, and kept my tears till he was gone. Why should I complain, when we both have merely done our duty and will surely be the happier for it in the end? If I don’t seem to need help, it is because I have a better friend, even than Father, to comfort and sustain me. My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning and may be many, but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but my become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother.”

“My only answer is, if my grave stood open on one side and you upon the other I'd go into my grave before I would take one step to meet you.”

“[She was] kept there in the sort of embrace a man gives to the dearest creature the world holds for him.”

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

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

“A fit queen for that nest of roses was the human flower that adorned it, for a year of love and luxury had ripened her youthful beauty into a perfect bloom. Graceful by nature, art had little to do for her, and, with a woman’s aptitude, she had acquired the polish which society alone can give. Frank and artless as ever, yet less free in speech, less demonstrative in act; full of power and passion, yet still half unconscious of her gifts; beautiful with the beauty that wins the heart as well as satisfies the eye, yet unmarred by vanity or affectation. She now showed fair promise of becoming all that a deep and tender heart, an ardent soul and a gracious nature could make her, once life had tamed and taught her more.”

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

“Her beauty satisfied [his] artistic eye, her peculiarities piqued his curiosity, her vivacity lightened his ennui, and her character interested him by the unconscious hints it gave of power, pride and passion. So entirely natural and unconventional was she that he soon found himself on a familiar footing, asking all manner of unusual questions, and receiving rather piquant replies.”

“He looked at her an instant, for the effect of the graceful girlish figure with pale, passionate face and dark eyes full of sorrow, pride and resolution was wonderfully enhanced by the gloom of the great room, and glimpses of a gathering storm in the red autumn sky.”

“...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.”

“Dear me! If only men and women would trust, understand and help as my children do, what a capital place `the world would be!”

“MARCH, 1846-- I have at last got the little room I have wanted so long, and am very happy about it. It does me good to be alone, and Mother has made it very pretty and neat for me. My work-basket and desk are by the window, and my closet is full of dried herbs that smell very nice. The door that opens into the garden will be very pretty in summer, and I can run off to the woods when I like.”

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

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

“Some stories are so familiar its like going home.”

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

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

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

“I ask not for any crownBut that which all may win;Nor try to conquer any worldExcept the one within.”

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

“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.”

“...for when women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do. Then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it. If it fails, they generously give her the whole.”

“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.”

“...and Jo laid the rustling sheets together with a careful hand, as one might shut the covers of a lovely romance, which holds the reader fast till the end comes, and he finds himself alone in the work-a-day world again.”

“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.”

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