life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.
The scar will remain, but it is better for a man to lose both arms than his soul; and these hard years, instead of being lost, may be made the most precious of your lives, if they teach you to rule yourselves.
It’s amazing how lovely common things become, if one only knows how to look at them.
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 often think flowers are the angels' alphabet whereby they write on hills and fields mysterious and beautiful lessons for us to feel and learn.
The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.
I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.
Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.
Well, if I can't be happy, I can be useful, perhaps.
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.
Honesty is the best policy, in love as in law.
Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.
A holiday isn't a holiday, without plenty of freedom and fun.
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.
A time will come when you will find that in gaining a brief joy you have lost your peace forever.
It takes three or four women to get each man into, through, and out of the world.
Beth ceased to fear him from that moment, and sat there talking to him as cozily as if she had known him all her life, for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.
I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.
Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.
Every house needs a grandmother in it.
Fame is a pearl many dive for and only a few bring up. Even when they do, it is not perfect, and they sigh for more, and lose better things in struggling for them.
It's lovely to see people so happy.
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
November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year," said Margaret, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the frostbitten garden. "That's the reason I was born in it," observed Jo pensively, quite unconscious of the blot on her nose.
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.
Men are always ready to die for us, but not to make our lives worth having. Cheap sentiment and bad logic.
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.
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.
Some stories are so familiar its like going home.
Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.
The small hopes and plans and pleasures of children should be tenderly respected by grown-up people, and never rudely thwarted or ridiculed.
I like good strong words that mean something.
Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.
Don't shut yourself up in a band box because you are a woman, but understand what is going on, and educate yourself to take part in the world's work, for it all affects you and yours.
Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.
Life is my university, and I hope to graduate from it with some distinction.
I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.
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.
When I had youth I had no money; now I have the money I have no time; and when I get the time, if I ever do, I shall have no health to enjoy life. I suppose it's the discipline I need; but it's rather hard to love the things I do, and see them go by because duty chains me to my galley. If I ever come into port with all sails set, that will be my reward perhaps.
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.
Salt is like good-humor, and nearly every thing is better for a pinch of it.
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.
Have your fun, my dear; but if you must earn your bread, try to make it sweet with cheerfulness, not bitter with the daily regret that it isn't cake.
I don't worry about the storms, I am learning to sail my own ship.
The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.
Remember that frost comes latest to those that bloom the highest.
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
Love is a great beautifier.
Don't try to make me grow up before my time.
...for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.
Many argue; not many converse.
…marriage, they say, halves one's rights and doubles one's duties.
Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.
Jo had learned that hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally.
One of the sweet things about pain and sorrow is that they show us how well we are loved, how much kindness there is in the world, and how easily we can make others happy in the same way when they need help and sympathy.
If we are all alive ten years hence, let's meet, and see how many of us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now.
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.
"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.
Love and Loyalty If ever men and women are their simplest, sincerest selves, it is when suffering softens the one, and sympathy strengthens the other.
In the books I read the sinners are always more interesting than the saints, and in real life good people are dismally dull. I've no desire to be wicked, but I do want to be happy. A short life and a gay one for me and I'm willing to pay for my pleasure if it is necessary.
Prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well.
Nothing provokes speculation more than the sight of a woman enjoying herself." -
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.
Resolved to take fate by the throat and shake a living out of her.
We're twins, and so we love each other more than other people.
Don't cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.
Cheerfulness can change misfortune into love and friends.
A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.
I could have been a great many things.
A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure.
Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.
You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.
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.
Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.
It takes two flints to make a fire.
Father asked us what was God's noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad, but babies never are.
Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.
My book came out; and people began to think that topsy-turvy Louisa would amount to something after all.
I believe that it is as much a right and duty for women to do something with their lives as for men and we are not going to be satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us.
He was the first, the only love her life, and in a nature like hers such passions take deep root and die-hard.
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.
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.
. . . 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.
I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)
Meg's high-heeled slippers were dreadfully tight, and hurt her, though she would not own it; and Jo's nineteen hair-pins all seemed stuck straight into her head, which was not exactly comfortable; but, dear me, let us be elegant or die.
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.
Conceit spoils the finest genius.
There is very little real liberty in the world; even those who seem freest are often the most tightly bound. Law, custom, public opinion, fear or shame make slaves of us all, as you will find when you try your experiment.
Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.
The duty we owe ourselves is greater than that we owe others.
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
It takes very little fire to make a great deal of smoke nowadays, and notoriety is not real glory.
He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.
Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. "It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress. "I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff. "We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner.
The emerging woman ... will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied...strength and beauty must go together.
Cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days it will come back buttered.
I don't like favors; they oppress and make me fell like a slave. I'd rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.
We've got minds and souls as well as hearts; ambition and talents as well as beauty and accomplishments; and we want to live and learn as well as love and be loved. I'm sick of being told that is all a woman is fit for! I won't have anything to do with love until I prove that I am something beside a housekeeper and a baby-tender!
I've learned to check the hasty words that rise to my lips, and when I feel that they mean to break out against my will, I just go away for a minute, and give myself a little shake for being so weak and wicked.
A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.
Housekeeping ain't no joke.
Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.
Oft in the silence of the night, When the lonely moon rides high, When wintry winds are whistling, And we hear the owl's shrill cry, In the quiet, dusky chamber, By the flickering firelight, Rising up between two sleepers, Comes a spirit all in white.
Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can
Our actions are in our own hands, but the consequences of them are not. Remember that, my dear, and think twice before you do anything.
If you dear little girls would only learn what real beauty is, and not pinch and starve and bleach yourselves out so, you'd save an immense deal of time and money and pain. A happy soul in a healthy body makes the best sort of beauty for man or woman.
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, and the great charm of all power is modesty.
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.
Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.
where I wholly love I wholly trust.
People want to be amused, not preached at, you know. Morals don't sell nowadays.
The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.
I like to help women help themselves, as that is, in my opinion, the best way to settle the woman question. Whatever we can do and do well we have a right to, and I don't think any one will deny us.
Better lose your life than your soul.
I ask not for any crown But that which all may win; Nor try to conquer any world Except the one within.
She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.
Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow.
Many wise and true sermons are preached us everyday by unconscious ministers in street, school, office, or home; even a fair table may become a pulpit, if it can offer the good and helpful words which are never out of season.
Where the heart is the mind works best.
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.
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.
We can't any of us do all we would like, but we can do our best for every case that comes to us, and that helps amazingly.
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.
