Quotes From "Little Women" By Louisa May Alcott

Love Jo all your days, if you choose, but don't...
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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
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You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one. Louisa May Alcott
Life and love are very precious when both are in...
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Life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom. Louisa May Alcott
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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. Louisa May Alcott
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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 bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success. Louisa May Alcott
Conceit spoils the finest genius.
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Conceit spoils the finest genius. Louisa May Alcott
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But, like all happiness, it did not last long… Louisa May Alcott
Well, I am happy, and I won't fret, but it...
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Well, I am happy, and I won't fret, but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants… Louisa May Alcott
Dear me! how happy and good we'd be, if we...
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Dear me! how happy and good we'd be, if we had no worries! Louisa May Alcott
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…feeling as if all the happiness and support of their lives was about to be taken from them. Louisa May Alcott
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...and Jo laid the rustling sheets together with a careful hand, as one might shut the covers of a lovely romance, which holds the reader fast till the end comes, and he finds himself alone in the work-a-day world again. Louisa May Alcott
John Brooke is acting dreadfully, and Meg likes it!
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John Brooke is acting dreadfully, and Meg likes it! Louisa May Alcott
I have nothing to give but my heart so full...
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I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands."" They're not empty now. Louisa May Alcott
…wisely mingled poetry and prose.
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…wisely mingled poetry and prose. Louisa May Alcott
I've got the key to my castle in the air,...
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I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen. Louisa May Alcott
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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. Louisa May Alcott
She preferred imaginary heroes to real ones, because when tired...
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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
Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the...
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Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds. Louisa May Alcott
I think she is growing up, and so begins to...
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I think she is growing up, and so begins to dream dreams, and have hopes and fears and fidgets, without knowing why or being able to explain them. Louisa May Alcott
I wish I had a horse; then I could run...
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I wish I had a horse; then I could run for miles in this splendid air, and not lose my breath." Jo Louisa May Alcott
In her secret soul, however, she decided that politics were...
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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… Louisa May Alcott
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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
Right Jo better be happy old maids than unhappy wives...
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Right Jo better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands. Louisa May Alcott
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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. Louisa May Alcott
…on some occasions, women, like dreams, go by contraries.
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…on some occasions, women, like dreams, go by contraries. Louisa May Alcott
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Amy's lecture did Laurie good, though, of course, he did not own it till long afterward. Men seldom do, 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. . Louisa May Alcott
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It’s genius simmering, perhaps. I’ll let it simmer, and see what comes of it, ” he said, with a secret suspicion all the while that it wasn’t genius, but something far more common. Whatever it was, it simmered to some purpose, for he grew more and more discontented with his desultory life, began to long for some real and earnest work to go at, soul and body, and finally came to the wise conclusion that everyone who loved music was not a composer. Louisa May Alcott
The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.
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The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them. Louisa May Alcott
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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 . Louisa May Alcott
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Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace. Louisa May Alcott
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It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys’ games and work and manners! Louisa May Alcott
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…marriage, they say, halves one's rights and doubles one's duties. Louisa May Alcott
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[Jo to her mother] I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it and now it's worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family. Louisa May Alcott
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I wish I had no heart, it aches so… Louisa May Alcott
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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. Louisa May Alcott
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I like good strong words that mean something… Louisa May Alcott
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…nothing remained but loneliness and grief… Louisa May Alcott
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Then it was that Jo, living in the darkened room, with that suffering little sister always before her eyes and that pathetic voice sounding in her ears, learned to see the beauty and the sweetness of Beth's nature, to feel how deep and tender a place she filled in all hearts, and to acknowledge the worth of Beth's unselfish ambition to live for others, and make home happy by that exercise of those simple virtues which all may possess, and which all should love and value more than talent, wealth, or beauty. Louisa May Alcott
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I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it's good for me… Louisa May Alcott
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…possessed of that indescribable charm called grace. Louisa May Alcott
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...the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy. Louisa May Alcott
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Because they are mean is no reason why I should be. I hate such things, and though I think I've a right to be hurt, I don't intend to show it. (Amy March) Louisa May Alcott
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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. Her "scribbling suit" consisted of a black woollen pinafore on which she could wipe her pen at will, and a cap of the same material, adorned with a cheerful red bow, into which she bundled her hair when the decks were cleared for action. This cap was a beacon to the inquiring eyes of her family, who during these periods kept their distance, merely popping in their heads semi-occasionally, to ask, with interest, "Does genius burn, Jo?" They did not always venture even to ask this question, but took an observation of the cap, and judged accordingly. If this expressive article of dress was drawn low upon the forehead, it was a sign that hard work was going on; in exciting moments it was pushed rakishly askew; and when despair seized the author it was plucked wholly off, and cast upon the floor. At such times the intruder silently withdrew; and not until the red bow was seen gayly erect upon the gifted brow, did any one dare address Jo. Louisa May Alcott
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Jo carried her love of liberty and hate of conventionalities to such and unlimited extent that she naturally found herself worsted in an argument. Louisa May Alcott
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Be worthy love, and love will come. Louisa May Alcott
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Ridicule is often harder to bear than self-denial. Louisa May Alcott
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It is so beautiful to be loved as Laurie loves me; he isn’t sentimental, doesn’t say much about it, but I see and feel it in all he says and does, and it makes me so happy and so humble that I don’t seem to be the same girl I was. I never knew how good and generous and tender he was till now, for he lets me read his heart, and I find it full of noble hopes and impulses and purposes, and am so proud to know it’s mine. He says he feels as if he ‘could make a prosperous voyage now with me aboard as mate, and lots of love for ballast.’ I pray he may, and try to be all he believes me, for I love my gallant captain with all my heart and soul and might, and never will desert him while God lets us be together. Oh, Mother, I never knew how much like heaven this world could be when two people love and live for one another!. Louisa May Alcott
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What shall you do all your vacation?’, asked Amy. "I shall lie abed and do nothing", replied Meg. Louisa May Alcott
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Don't try to make me grow up before my time… Louisa May Alcott
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I wish wearing flat-irons on our heads would keep us from growing up. But buds will be roses, and kittens, cats, - more's the pity! Louisa May Alcott