Top 359 Quotes & Sayings by Louisa May Alcott

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.

It takes two flints to make a fire.

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.

Work is and always has been my salvation and I thank the Lord for it.

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.

Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.

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.

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.

It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.

A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure.

Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.

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.

Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.

Housekeeping ain't no joke.

Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.

Love is a great beautifier.

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.

People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust world.

What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?

She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.

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.

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.

A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.

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.

'Stay' is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.

Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it.

Father asked us what was God's noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad, but babies never are.

life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.

Many argue; not many converse.

Men are always ready to die for us, but not to make our lives worth having. Cheap sentiment and bad logic.

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.

Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.

Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow.

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.

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.

It takes three or four women to get each man into, through, and out of the world.

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.

Salt is like good-humor, and nearly every thing is better for a pinch of it.

Prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well.

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

Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.

The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.

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.

I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.

The emerging woman ... will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied...strength and beauty must go together.

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.

Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.

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.

Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.

It’s amazing how lovely common things become, if one only knows how to look at them.

Where the heart is the mind works best.

Conceit spoils the finest genius.

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.

I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.

A time will come when you will find that in gaining a brief joy you have lost your peace forever.

Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can

The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.

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.