Louisa May Alcott Quotes

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Is it not meningitis?

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

The duty we owe ourselves is greater than that we owe others.

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

Conceit spoils the finest genius.

Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.

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

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 be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.

Conceit spoils the finest genius?and the great charm of all power is modesty.

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.

I like good strong words that mean something.

I may be strong-minded, but no one can say I'm out of my sphere now, for woman's special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens

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

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.

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.

When Emerson's library was burning at Concord, I went to him as he stood with the firelight on his strong, sweet face, and endeavored to express my sympathy for the loss of his most valued possessions, but he answered cheerily, 'Never mind, Louisa, see what a beautiful blaze they make! We will enjoy that now.' The lesson was one never forgotten and in the varied lessons that have come to me I have learned to look for something beautiful and bright.

The violin - that most human of all instruments.

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.

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.

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

Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.

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.

Where the heart is the mind works best.

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.

The mere possession of a gun is, in itself, an urge to kill, not only by design, but by accident, by madness, by fright, by bravado.

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.

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

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

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.

Love is a great beautifier.

Prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well.

It takes three or four women to get each man into, through, and out of the world.

She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.

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

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.

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

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.

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

"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.

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

Rivalry adds so much to the charms of one's conquests.

. . . 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.