Louisa May Alcott
The violin - that most human of all instruments.Collection: Violin
Fame is a very good thing to have in the house, but cash is more convenient.Collection: Money
Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.Collection: Tired
Jo's ambition was to do something very splendid; what it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to tell her.Collection: Ambition
So she enjoyed herself heartily, and found, what isn't always the case, that her granted wish was all she had hoped.Collection: Wish
But, like all happiness, it did not last long.Collection: Long
…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.Collection: Mother
I wish I had no heart, it aches so.Collection: Heart
I’m not like the rest of you; I never made any plans about what I’d do when I grew up; I never thought of being married, as you did. I couldn’t seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there. I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is leaving you all. I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.Collection: Stupid
…it is so much better to work for others than for one's self alone.Collection: Self
The thought that, insignificant as she was, she yet might do some good, made her very careful of her acts and words, and so anxious to keep head contented and face happy, that she forgot her clothes, and made others do the same. She did not know it, but that good old fashion of simplicity made the plain gowns pretty, and the grace of unconsciousness beautified their little wearer with the charm that makes girlhood sweetest to those who truly love and reverence it.Collection: Fashion
…she'll go and fall in love, and there's an end of peace and fun, and cozy times together.Collection: Sister
But the spirit of Eve is strong in all her daughters.Collection: Daughter
Persuasive influences are better than any amount of moralizing.Collection: Influence
To marry without love betrays as surely as to love without marriage.Collection: Love Is
...Meg learned to love her husband better for his poverty, because it seem to have made a man of him, giving him the strength and courage to fight his own way, and taught him a tender patience with which to bear and comfort the natural longings and failures of those he loved.Collection: Love
I think this power of living in our children is one of the sweetest things in the world.Collection: Mother
Go out more, keep cheerful as well as busy, for you are the sunshine-maker of the family, and if you get dismal there is no fair weather.Collection: Sunshine
…she rejoiced as only mothers can in the good fortunes of their children.Collection: Mother
Nothing remained but loneliness and grief.Collection: Loneliness
She fell into the moody, miserable state of mind which often comes when strong wills have to yield to the inevitable.Collection: Strong
It was fortunate that tea was at hand, to produce a lull and provide refreshment,— for they would have been hoarse and faint if they had gone on much longer.Collection: Hands
{Mrs. March to Jo} You are too much alike and too fond of freedom, not to mention hot tempers and strong wills, to get on happily together, in a relation which needs infinite patience and forbearance, as well as love.Collection: Strong
I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands." "They're not empty now.Collection: Heart
To most the end comes as naturally and simply as sleep.Collection: Sleep
…because talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.Collection: Energy
Her beauty satisfied [his] artistic eye, her peculiarities piqued his curiosity, her vivacity lightened his ennui, and her character interested him by the unconscious hints it gave of power, pride and passion. So entirely natural and unconventional was she that he soon found himself on a familiar footing, asking all manner of unusual questions, and receiving rather piquant replies.Collection: Character
Fathers and mothers are too absorbed in business and housekeeping to study their children, and cherish that sweet and natural confidence which is a child's surest safeguard, and a parent's subtlest power.Collection: Mother
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.Collection: Real
Salt is like good-humor, and nearly every thing is better for a pinch of it.Collection: Salt
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.Collection: Struggle
Men are always ready to die for us, but not to make our lives worth having. Cheap sentiment and bad logic.Collection: Men
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.Collection: Hope
Honesty is the best policy, in love as in law.Collection: Honesty
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.Collection: Book
I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.Collection: Coffee
Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.Collection: Art
A holiday isn't a holiday, without plenty of freedom and fun.Collection: Fun
It takes very little fire to make a great deal of smoke nowadays, and notoriety is not real glory.Collection: Real
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.Collection: Loyalty
I like good strong words that mean something.Collection: Strong
Don't try to make me grow up before my time.Collection: Growing Up
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.Collection: Mom
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.Collection: Wise
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.Collection: Lonely
Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.Collection: Sister
I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.Collection: Keys
Don't cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.Collection: Soul
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.Collection: Education