Louisa May Alcott
117 quotes
Biography
"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain."
"I like good strong words that mean something…"
"I ask not for any crownBut that which all may win;Nor try to conquer any worldExcept the one within."
"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."
"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."
"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."
"You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one."
"Conceit spoils the finest genius."
"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."
"Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can"
"Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy."
"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."
"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."
"...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."
"Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again."
"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."
"Dear me! how happy and good we'd be, if we had no worries!"
"But, like all happiness, it did not last long…"
"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."
"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."
"Well, I am happy, and I won't fret, but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants…"
"In the midst of her tears came the thought, "When people are in danger, they ask God to save them;"and, slipping down upon her knees, she said her prayer as she had never said it before, for when human help seems gone we turn to Him as naturally as lost children cry to their father, and feel sure that he will hear and answer them."
"Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling."