Quotessence
Home / Authors / Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllLittle WomenMujercitasIfsMenPeopleGirlHeartThinkingWorldLittles

Famous Louisa May Alcott Quotes

“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!”

MarriageTrue Love
Book:Little Women
Create image

“I hate to think I’ve got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China-aster! It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys’ games and work and manners! I can’t get over my disappointment in not being a boy; and it’s worse than ever now, for I’m dying to go and fight with Papa, and I can only stay at home and knit like a poky old woman.”

GirlGrowing UpPersonalityLeaveStay
Book:Little Women
Create image

“My Beth. Sitting patient in the shadow Till the blessed light shall come, A serene and saintly presence Sanctifies our troubled home Earthly joys, and hope, and sorrows, Break like ripples on the strand Of the deep and solemn river Where her willing feet now stand. Oh, my sister, passing from me, Out of human care and strife, Leave me, as a gift, those virtues which have beautified your life. Dear, bequeath me that great patience Which has power to sustain A cheerful, uncomplaining spirit In its prison-house of pain. Give me, for I need it sorely, Of that courage, wise and sweet, Which has made the path of duty Green beneath your willing feet. Give me that unselfish nature, That with charity divine Can pardon wrong for love's dear sake- Meek heart, forgive me mine! Thus our parting daily loseth Something of its bitter pain, And while learning this hard lesson, My great loss becomes gain. For the touch of grief will render My wild nature more serene, Give to life new aspirations- A new trust in the unseen. Henceforth, safe across the river, I shall see forever more A beloved, household spirit Waiting for me on the shore. Hope and faith, born of my sorrow, Guardian angels shall become, And the sister gone before me, By their hands shall lead me home.”

LiteratureFictionNovelYoung AdultClassicHistorical Fiction
Book:Little Women
Create image

“Grief is the best opener of some hearts, and Jo's was nearly ready for the bag. A little more sunshine to ripen the nut, then, not a boy's impatient shake, but a man's hand reached up to pick it gently from the burr, and find the kernal sound and sweet. If she suspected this, she would have shut up tight, and been more prickly than ever, fortunately she wasn't thinking about herself, so when the time came, down she dropped.”

LoveGrief
Book:Little Women
Create image

“What is a little mine?" [mind] "It is something which makes your body move, as the spring made the wheels go in my watch when I showed it to you." "Open me; I want to see it go wound." "I can't do that any more than you could open the watch. God winds you up, and you can go till He stops you." "Does I?" and Demi's brown eyes grew big and bright as he took in the new thought. "Is I wounded up like the watch?" "Yes; but I can't show you how; for it is done when we don't see." Demi felt of his back, as if expecting to find it like that of the watch, and then gravely remarked,- "I dess Dod does it when I's asleep.”

ChildrenWisdom From Children
Author:Louisa May Alcott
Create image

“When the sun peeped into the girls' room early next morning...he saw a comical sight. Each had made such preparation for the fete as seemed necessary and proper. Meg had an extra row of little curl papers across her forehead, Jo had copiously anointed her afflicted face with cold cream. Beth had taken Joanna to bed with her to atone for the approaching separation, and Amy had capped the climax by putting a clothespin on her nose, to uplift the offending feature. It was one of the kind artists use to hold their paper on the drawing boards, therefore quite appropriate and effective for the purpose to which it was now put. This funny spectacle appeared to amuse the sun, for he burst out with such radiance that Jo woke up, and roused the girls with a hearty laugh at Amy's ornament.”

MorningSunComicalLittle WomenCamp Lawrence
Book:Little Women
Create image