Quotes from Hans Christian Andersen

Almighty God, thee only have I; thou steerest my fate, I must give myself up to thee! Give me a livelihood! Give me a bride! My blood wants love, as my heart does!

It is only with the heart that one can see clearly, for the most essential things are invisible to the eye.

I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling.

The good and the beautiful is not forgotten; it lives in legend and in song.

Every man's life is a fairytale written by God's hand.

We have no immortal souls; we have no future life; we are just like the green sea-weed, which, once cut down, can never revive again! Men, on the other hand, have a soul which lives for ever, lives after the body has become dust; it rises through the clear air, up to the shining stars!

He found whole figures which represented a written word; but he never could manage to represent just the word he wanted - that word was 'eternity', and the Snow Queen had said, If you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master, and I will make you a present of the whole world and a pair of new skates. But he could not find it out.

In the days of Moses and the prophets such a man would have been counted among the wise men of the land; in the Middle Ages he would have been burned at the stake.

Everyone's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers.

Farewell, farewell, said the swallow, with a heavy heart, as he left the warm countries, to fly back into Denmark. There he had a nest over the window of a house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The swallow sang Tweet, tweet, and from his song came the whole story.

Some are created for beauty, and some for use; and there are some which one can do without altogether.

At leve er ikke nok. Solskin, frihed og en lille blomst må man ha

You have become my thinking's single thought, My heart's first love: it had no love before. I love you as no love on earth is wrought, I love you now and love you evermore.

They sat close to each other, and he told her a story about her eyes. They were beautiful dark lakes in which her thoughts swam about like mermaids. And her forehead was a snowy mountain, grand and shining. These were lovely stories.

A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny.

You're a fine one for tramping around," the bandit girl said to Kai. "I'd like to know – do you really deserve to have someone run to the end of the world just for your sake?

Now, if we only had as many casks of butter as there are people here, then I would eat lots of butter!

Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to orange and gold. Then, as winter approached, the wind caught them as they fell

We have not immortal souls, we shall never live again; but, like the green sea-weed, when once it has been cut off, we can never flourish more. Human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust. It rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars. As we rise out of the water, and behold all the land of the earth, so do they rise to unknown and glorious regions which we shall never see.

mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer more.

Donc, il faudra que je meure et flotte comme écume sur la mer et n'entende jamais plus la musique des vagues, ne voit plus les fleurs ravissantes et le rouge soleil. Ne puis-je rien faire pour gagner une vie éternelle?

I only do His will, replied Death. I am his gardener. I take all His flowers and trees, and transplant them into the gardens of Paradise in an unknown land. How they flourish there, and what that garden resembles, I may not tell you.

She was so young that love was still a game to her. . . . She was being neither fair nor clever, but Babette was only nineteen years old.

And the Top spoke no more of his old love; for that dies away when the beloved objects has lain for five years in a roof gutter and got wet through; yes, one does not know her again when one meets her in the dust box.