WednesdayMar 18, 2026
Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969
Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 - March 6, 1888) was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women , published in 1868. This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters.
Father asked us what was God's noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad, but babies never are.
Far away 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 people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.
I have made a plan for my life, as I am in my teens, and no more a child. I am old for my age and don't care much for girls' things. People think I'm wild and queer; but mother understands and helps me. I have not told anyone about my plans but I am going to be good.... Now I'm going to work really, for I feel a desire to improve and be a help and comfort, not a care and sorrow to my dear mother.
Love is a great beautifier.
I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship.
Housekeeping ain't no joke.
All is fish that comes to the literary net. Goethe puts his joys and sorrows into poems, I turn my adventures into bread and butter.
A little kingdom I possess, Where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find Of governing it well.
A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure.
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.
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,
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.
Rome took all the vanity out of me; for after seeing the wonders there, I felt too insignificant to live, and gave up all my foolish hopes in despair.
People want to be amused, not preached at, you know. Morals don't sell nowadays.
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.
It takes very little fire to make a great deal of smoke nowadays, and notoriety is not real glory.
Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors!
It takes two flints to make a fire.
What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?
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.
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.
Dont 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.
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.
My definition [of a philosopher] is of a man up in a balloon, with his family and friends holding the ropes which confine him to earth and trying to haul him down.
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