Louisa May Alcott Quotes - Page 4

Education is not confined to books, and the finest characters often graduate from no college, but make experience their master, and life their book. [Some care] only for the mental culture, and [are] in danger of over-studying, under the delusion . . . that learning must be had at all costs, forgetting that health and real wisdom are better.

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

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

Better lose your life than your soul.

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

People want to be amused, not preached at, you know. Morals don't sell nowadays.

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

Oft in the silence of the night, When the lonely moon rides high, When wintry winds are whistling, And we hear the owl's shrill cry, In the quiet, dusky chamber, By the flickering firelight, Rising up between two sleepers, Comes a spirit all in white.

Have your fun, my dear; but if you must earn your bread, try to make it sweet with cheerfulness, not bitter with the daily regret that it isn't cake.

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

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.

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

My book came out; and people began to think that topsy-turvy Louisa would amount to something after all.

Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.

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.

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.

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.

He was the first, the only love her life, and in a nature like hers such passions take deep root and die-hard.

It takes very little fire to make a great deal of smoke nowadays, and notoriety is not real glory.

where I wholly love I wholly trust.

Your father, Jo. He never loses patience, never doubts or complains, but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him.

It takes two flints to make a fire.

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.

. . . 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.

Remember that frost comes latest to those that bloom the highest.