The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.
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.
You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one.
life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.
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.
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.
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.
Well, I am happy, and I won’t fret, but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants…
Dear me! how happy and good we’d be, if we had no worries!
…feeling as if all the happiness and support of their lives was about to be taken from them.
How little it takes to make a young girl happy! A pretty dress, sunshine, and somebody opposite, and they are blest.
…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.
John Brooke is acting dreadfully, and Meg likes it!
I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands.””They’re not empty now.
I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.
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.
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.
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.
Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.
Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.
Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can
…books are always good company if you have the right sort. Let me pick out some for you.’ And Mrs. Jo made a bee-line to the well-laden shelves, which were the joy of her heart and the comfort of her life.
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain
I shall keep my book on the table here, and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good, and help me through the day.
…having learned that people cannot be moulded like clay…
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.
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.
…what splendid dreams young people build upon a word, and how bitter is the pain when the bright bubbles burst.
I wish I had a horse; then I could run for miles in this splendid air, and not lose my breath.” Jo
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…
The emerging woman … will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied…strength and beauty must go together.
Right Jo better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands.
…on some occasions, women, like dreams, go by contraries.
…proved that woman isn’t a half but a whole human being, and can stand alone.
…I’m always ready to talk, shouldn’t be a woman if I were not,’ laughed Mrs. Jo…
I rather miss my wild girl; but if I get a strong, helpful, tender-hearted woman in her place, I shall feel quite satisfied.
The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.
He was neither rich nor great, young nor handsome, – in no respect what is called fascinating, imposing or brilliant; and yet he was as attractive as a genial fire, and people seemed to gather about him as naturally as about a warm hearth.
Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace.
It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys’ games and work and manners!
Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.
…marriage, they say, halves one’s rights and doubles one’s duties.
[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.
Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.
The small hopes and plans and pleasures of children should be tenderly respected by grown-up people, and never rudely thwarted or ridiculed.
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.
…she rejoiced as only mothers can in the good fortunes of their children.
I think this power of living in our children is one of the sweetest things in the world…
…no person, no matter how vivid an imagination he may have, can invent anything half so droll as the freaks and fancies that originate in the lively brains of little people.
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.
Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.
Men are always ready to die for us, but not to make our lives worth having. Cheap sentiment and bad logic.
I do like men who come out frankly and own that they are not gods.
Kindness in looks and words and ways is true politeness, and any one can have it if they only try to treat other people as they like to be treated themselves.
Polly tried to conquer the bad feeling; but it worried her, till she remembered something her mother once said to her: “When you feel out of sorts, try to make someone else happy, and you will soon be so yourself.
I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it’s good for me…
Send me all the advice you like. I’ll use as much as I can.
…possessed of that indescribable charm called grace.
…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.
It’s highly virtuous to say we’ll be good, but wecan’t do it all at once, and it takes a long pull, a strongpull, and a pull all together before some of us even get ourfeet set in the right way.
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)
Beth ceased to fear him from that moment, and sat there talking to him as cozily as if she had known him all her life, for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.
Some books are so familiar, reading them is like being home again.
Young people think they never can change, but they do in the most wonderful manner, and very few die of broken hearts.
Young things like you don’t need any ornaments but those you wear to-night: youth, health, intelligence, and modesty.
Jo carried her love of liberty and hate of conventionalities to such and unlimited extent that she naturally found herself worsted in an argument.
leave him free, and the mere sense of liberty would content him, joined to the knowledge that his presence was dear to those whom he loved best.
ridicule is often harder to bear than self-denial.
What shall you do all your vacation?’, asked Amy. “I shall lie abed and do nothing”, replied Meg.
Color makes no difference; the peeps are gray, the seals are black, and the crabs yellow; but we don’t care, and are all friends. It is very unkind to treat you so.
Many of the bravest never are known, and get no praise. [But]that does not lessen their beauty…
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!
…the uncomfortable appearance of a girl who was rapidly shooting up into a woman and didn’t like it.
…in silence learned the sweet solace which affection administers to sorrow.
I don’t think secrets agree with me, I feel rumpled up in mind since you told me that…
Six weeks is a long time to wait, and a still longer time for a girl to keep a secret…
Mothers have need of sharp eyes and discreet tongueswhen they have girls to manage
There are things that mothers can manage best when they do their duty.
That was all I wanted!” whispered Polly, in a tone which caused him to feel that the race of angels was not entirely extinct.
The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.
Boys don’t gush, so I can stand it. The last time I let in a party of girls, one fell into my arms and said, “Darling, love me!” I wanted to shake her,’ answered Mrs. Jo, wiping her pen with energy.
It does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants
As to the other three, if they had been perfection they would not have been real girls, and you could not have wept over their trials and laughed over their pleasures.
…because talent isn’t genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.
It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.
It’s highly virtuous to say we’ll be good, but we can’t do it all at once, and it takes a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together before some of us even get our feet set in the right way
You can go through the world with your elbows out and your nose in the air, and call it independence, if you like. That’s not my way.
I don’t like favors; they oppress and make me fell like a slave. I’d rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.
…a woman’s always safe and comfortable when a fellow’s down on his luck.
Prosperity suits some people, and they blossom best in a glow of sunshine; others need the shade, and are the sweeter for a touch of frost.
Who are your heroes?” asked Jo.”Grandfather and Napoleon.
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.
Dan clung to her in speechless gratitude, feeling the blessedness of mother love, — that divine gift which comforts, purifies, and strengthens all who seek it.
And mother-like, Mrs. Jo forgot the threatened chastisement in tender lamentations over the happy scapegrace…
I’m tired of praise; and love is very sweet, when it is simple and sincere like this.
…freedom being the sauce best beloved by the boyish soul.
I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
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.
I consider it the best part of an education to have been born and brought up in the country
“Stay” is a charming word in a friend’s vocabulary.
I want to be great or nothing. I won’t be a commonplace dauber so I don’t intend to try any more.
Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I many not reach them but I can look up and see the beauty believe in them and try to follow where they lead.
Love is the only thing we can carry with us when we go and it makes the end so easy.
Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go and it makes the end so easy.
I resolved to take Fate by the throat and shake the living out of her.
I’m not afraid of storms for I’m learning how to sail my ship.
She was one of those happily created beings who please without effort make friends everywhere and take life so gracefully and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted to believe that such are born under a lucky star.
Madam de Stael pronounced architecture to be frozen music so is statuary crystalized spirituality.
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.
A little kingdom I possess Where thoughts and feelings dwell And very hard the task I find Of governing it well.
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
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.
I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn’t worth ruling.
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.
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.
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.
He who believes is strong he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. He who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.
Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.
What do girls do who haven’t any mothers to help them through their troubles?
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.