Louisa May Alcott Quotes

237 Sourced Quotes

Young people think they never can change, but they do in the most wonderful manner, and very few die of broken hearts.

Louisa May Alcott
She rejoiced as only mothers can in the good fortunes of their children.

Louisa May Alcott
Not another day or hour would she remain, no help was possible, no atonement could retrieve the past, no love or pity, pardon or excuse should soften the sharp pang of reparation for the guilty man. To go instantly and forever was her only thought, and this gave her strength to rise and look about her.

Louisa May Alcott
Many of the bravest never are known, and get no praise. [But]that does not lessen their beauty...

Louisa May Alcott
I am angry nearly every day of my life…but I have learned not to show it; and I still hope to learn not to feel it, though it may take me another forty years to do so.
Mrs March to her daughter Jo

Louisa May Alcott
Because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man.

Louisa May Alcott
Began the second part of 'Little Women.'... Girls write to ask who the little women marry, as if that was the only end and aim of a woman's life. I won't marry Jo to Laurie to please any one.

Louisa May Alcott
The sin is yours, but the shame and sorrow are mine, the past I cannot retrieve, the future is still unspoiled and I will not embitter it by any willful sin. Before I was innocently guilty, now I should be doubly guilty if I went back to the 'gay free life I love.' Atone for the wrong you have done me by ceasing to tempt and trouble me. I will not yield, though you hunt me to death.

Louisa May Alcott
For with eyes made clear by many tears, and a heart softened by the tenderest sorrow, she recognized the beauty of her sister's life—uneventful, unambitious, yet full of the genuine virtues which 'smell sweet, and blossom in the dust', the self-forgetfulness that makes the humblest on earth remembered soonest in heaven, the true success which is possible to all.

Louisa May Alcott
If I can do no more, let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.

Louisa May Alcott
Back to him she would never go, but in her lonely life still lived the sweet memory of that happy time when she believed in him and he was all in all to her.

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

Louisa May Alcott
Love scenes, if genuine, are indescribable; for to those who have enacted them the most elaborate description seems tame, and to those who have not, the simplest picture seems overdone.

Louisa May Alcott
So she enjoyed herself heartily, and found, what isn't always the case, that her granted wish was all she had hoped.

Louisa May Alcott
Fatherly and motherly hearts often beat warm and wise in the breasts of bachelor uncles and maiden aunts; and it is my private opinion that these worthy creatures are a beautiful provision of nature for the cherishing of other people's children.

Louisa May Alcott
I... resolved to take Fate by the throat and shake a living out of her.

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

Louisa May Alcott
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.

Louisa May Alcott
I've neither beauty, money, nor rank, yet every foolish boy mistakes my frank interest for something warmer, and makes me miserable. It is my misfortune. Think of me what you will, but beware of me in time, for against my will I may do you harm.

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

Louisa May Alcott
A quick temper, sharp tongue, and restless spirit were always getting her into scrapes, and her life was a series of ups and downs, which were both comic and pathetic.

Louisa May Alcott
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.

Louisa May Alcott
Proved that woman isn't a half but a whole human being, and can stand alone.

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

Louisa May Alcott
In spite of the laughing at them, the world would never get on without reformers.

Louisa May Alcott
He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet everyone was his friend; no longer young, but as happy-hearted as a boy; plain and peculiar, yet his face looked beautiful to many.

Louisa May Alcott
I am so full of my work, I can't stop to eat or sleep, or for anything but a daily run.

Louisa May Alcott
I shall keep my book on the table here, and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good, and help me through the day.

Louisa May Alcott
Books are always good company if you have the right sort. Let me pick out some for you.' And Mrs. Jo made a bee-line to the well-laden shelves, which were the joy of her heart and the comfort of her life.

Louisa May Alcott
A child her wayward pencil drew On margins of her book; Garlands of flower, dancing elves, Bud, butterfly, and brook, Lessons undone, and plum forgot, Seeking with hand and heart The teacher whom she learned to love Before she knew t'was Art.

Louisa May Alcott