Louisa May Alcott Quotes

…had an hour of silent agony that aged him more than years of happy life could have done.

I've been so bothered with my property, that I'm tired of it, and don't mean to save up any more, but give it away as I go along, and then nobody will envy me, or want to steal it, and I shan't be suspecting folks and worrying about my old cash.

No, I never wish that. I don't intend to die till I've enjoyed my life. Everyone has a right to happiness and sooner or later I will have it. Youth, health and freedom were meant to be enjoyed and I want to try every pleasure before I am too old to enjoy them.

"That's it!" said Jo to herself, when she at length discovered that genuine good will toward one's fellow men could beautify and dignify even a stout German teacher, who shoveled in his dinner, darned his own socks, and was burdened with the name of Bhaer.

Well. I’m not a poet, I’m just a
woman. And as a woman I have no way
to make money, not enough to earn a
living and support my family.
Even if I had my own money, which I
don’t, it would belong to my
husband the minute we were married.
If we had children they would
belong to him not me. They would be
his property. So don’t sit there
and tell me that marriage isn’t an
economic proposition, because it
is. It may not be for you but it
most certainly is for me.

Don't cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.

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

We don't choose our talents; but we needn't hide them in a napkin because they are not just what we want.

Jo had learned that hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally…

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

A kiss for a blow is always best, though it's not very easy to give it sometimes.

In her secret soul, however, she decided that politics were as bad as mathematics, and that the mission of politicians seemed to be calling each other names…

But, you see, Jo wasn’t a heroine, she was only a struggling human girl like hundreds of others, and she just acted out her nature, being sad, cross, listless, or energetic, as the mood suggested. It’s highly virtuous to say we’ll be good, but we can’t do it all at once, and it takes a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together before some of us even get our feet set in the right way.

…nothing remained but loneliness and grief…

I Know I shall be homesick for you... Even in heaven