Louisa May Alcott - Little Women (1868)

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You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

Louisa May Alcott
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.

Louisa May Alcott
Lovely weather so far. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.

Louisa May Alcott
What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?

Louisa May Alcott
I don't pretend to be wise, but I am observing, and I see a great deal more than you'd imagine. I'm interested in other people's experiences and inconsistencies, and, though I can't explain, I remember and use them for my own benefit.

Louisa May Alcott
You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.

Louisa May Alcott
Wouldn't it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true and we could live in them?

Louisa May Alcott
For no matter how lost and soiled and worn-out wandering sons may be, mothers can forgive and forget every thing as they fold them into their fostering arms. Happy the son whose faith in his mother remains unchanged, and who, through all his wanderings, has kept some filial token to repay her brave and tender love.

Louisa May Alcott
It takes so little to make a child happy, that it is a pity in a world full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts.

Louisa May Alcott
If I didn't care about doing right and didn't feel uncomfortable doing wrong, I should get on capitally.

Louisa May Alcott
When we make little sacrifices we like to have them appreciated, at least…

Louisa May Alcott
The moment Aunt March took her nap, or was busy with company, Jo hurried to this quiet place, and curling herself up in the easy chair, devoured poetry, romance, history, travels, and pictures like a regular bookworm.

Louisa May Alcott
The patience and the humility of the face she loved so well was a better lesson to Jo than the wisest lecture, the sharpest reproof.

Louisa May Alcott
But buds will be roses, and kittens, cats, — more's the pity!

Louisa May Alcott
Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety; it shows itself in acts rather than words, and has more influence than homilies or protestations.

Louisa May Alcott
She fell into the moody, miserable state of mind which often comes when strong wills have to yield to the inevitable.

Louisa May Alcott
The clocks were striking midnight and the rooms were very still as a figure glided quietly from bed to bed, smoothing a coverlid here, settling a pillow there, and pausing to look long and tenderly at each unconscious face, to kiss each with lips that mutely blessed, and to pray the fervent prayers which only mothers utter.

Louisa May Alcott
She's got most of the symptoms — is twittery and cross, doesn't eat, lies awake, and mopes in corners.

Louisa May Alcott
Head, you may think; heart, you may feel;
But hand, you shall work alway!

Louisa May Alcott
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.

Louisa May Alcott
Such hours are beautiful to live, but very hard to describe…

Louisa May Alcott
You may try your experiment for a week and see how you like it. I think by Saturday night you will find that all play and no work is as bad as all work and no play

Louisa May Alcott
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.

Louisa May Alcott
The homeliest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.

Louisa May Alcott
But please hug and kiss me, everyone, and don't mind my dress, I want a great many crumples of this sort put into it today.

Louisa May Alcott
I can get on with wild beasts first-rate; but men rile me awfully…

Louisa May Alcott
They always looked back before turning the corner, for their mother was always at the window to nod and smile, and wave her hand at them. Somehow it seemed as if they couldn't have got through the day without that, for whatever their mood might be, the last glimpse of that motherly face was sure to affect them like sunshine.

Louisa May Alcott
Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.

Louisa May Alcott
The spring sunshine streamed in like a benediction over the placid face upon the pillow—a face so full of painless peace, that those who loved it best smiled through their tears, and thanked God that Beth was well at last.

Louisa May Alcott
Laurie felt just then that his heart was entirely broken and the world a howling wilderness.

Louisa May Alcott