Frederika Bremer Quotes

16 Sourced Quotes

I have never as yet gone a step to see a literary lion; but I would go a considerable way to see Emerson, this pioneer in the moral forests of the New World, who applies his axe to the roots of the old trees to hew them down and to open the paths for new planting.

Frederika Bremer
There are words which sever hearts more than sharp swords; there are words the point of which sting the heart through the course of a whole life.

Frederika Bremer
These Americans believe that everything is possible...

Frederika Bremer
During my stay in Boston I have visited different churches, and it has so happened that the greatest number of them have belonged to the Unitarian body. So great, indeed, is the predominance of this sect in Boston that it is generally called 'the Unitarian city.'

Frederika Bremer
In South Carolina, the spirit and the links of social life are aristocratic to a degree which I cannot approve of, however much I may like certain people there. And aristocracy there has this in common with aristocracies of the present time; that, while the aristocratic virtues and greatness have vanished, merely the pretension remains.

Frederika Bremer
What a glorious new Scandinavia might not Minnesota become! … None of [the American states] appear to me to have a greater or more beautiful future before them than Minnesota.

Frederika Bremer
Gentle feelings produce profoundly beneficial effects upon stern natures. It is the spring rain which melts the ice-covering of the earth, and causes it to open to the beams of heaven.

Frederika Bremer
Ah! the curse of slavery, as the common phrase goes, has fallen not merely on the black but perhaps at this moment still more upon the white, because it has warped his sense of truth and has degraded his moral nature. The position and the treatment of the blacks, however, really improve from year to year; while the whites do not seem to advance in enlightenment.

Frederika Bremer
It is quite affecting to observe how much the olive tree is to the country people. Its fruit supplies them with food, medicine and light; its leaves, winter fodder for the goats and sheep; it is their shelter from the heat and its branches and roots supply them with firewood. The olive tree is the peasant's all-in-all.

Frederika Bremer
If you will learn the seriousness of life, and its beauty also, live for your husband; make him happy.

Frederika Bremer
When the first time of love is over, there comes a something better still. Then comes that other love; that faithful friendship which never changes, and which will accompany you with its calm light through the whole of life. It is only needful to place yourself so that if it may come, and then it comes of itself. And then everything turns and changes itself to the best.

Frederika Bremer
People seek for the spiritual champagne, but they mistake what it is...

Frederika Bremer
North America is not altogether to blame with regard to her Indians. If the Indian had been more susceptible to higher culture, violence and arms would not have been used against him, as is now the case.

Frederika Bremer
For the first time I tasted this tropical fruit, which people here are so fond of.... I could have fancied I was biting into soap. I have a notion that we shall not become very good friends, the banana and I.

Frederika Bremer
I have not, in general, much belief in the ability of woman as a creative artist. Unwritten lyrics, as [Ralph Waldo] Emerson said once when we conversed on this subject, should be her forte.

Frederika Bremer
A fly is a very light burden; but if it were perpetually to return and settle on one's nose, it might weary us of our very lives.

Frederika Bremer