Quotes from Hans Christian Andersen

cracked, and then another

came to anything, very remarkable; and there they are for you. So saying, he gave Joanna the gingerbread man, who was still quite whole—and to Knud the broken maiden; but the children had been so much impressed by the story, that they had not the heart to eat the

In a sunny spot stood a pleasant old farm-house

families were fighting for an eel's head, which

alone, said the mother, he is

and from that day, even till now, all the storks have been called Peter. The

Human beings.. have souls which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust. It rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars

It does not matter that one has been born in the henyard as long as one has lain in a swan's egg.

Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg.

Travelling expands the mind rarely.

Nothing is too high for a man to reach, but he must climb with care and confidence

It is the power of thought that gives man power over nature.

At first she was overjoyed that he would be with her, but then she recalled that human people could not live under the water, and he could only visit her father's palace as a dead man.

Well, yes: people write poems when they are in love, but a wise man will not print them.

Every town, like every man, has its own countenance; they have a common likeness and yet are different; one keeps in his mind all their peculiar touches.

The whole world is a series of miracles ... but we're so used to them we call them ordinary things.

Madame Politics is like Venus: they whom she decoys into her castle perish.

We cannot expect to be happy always ... by experiencing evil as well as good we become wise.

No, the light is too intense; we do not yet have eyes that can see all the glory God has created. But maybe someday we will have such eyes. That will be the most wonderful fairy tale of all, for we ourselves will be part of it.

Every town, like every man, has its own countenance; they have a common likeness and yet are different; one keeps in his mind all their peculiar touches.

Each time I think that the song is ended ... something higher and better begins for me.

Mermaids have no tears, and so they suffer all the more.

There was once a merchant who was so rich that he might have paved the whole street, and a little alley besides, with silver money. But he didn't do it--he knew better how to use his money than that.

Often I ask, deeply moved in my heart, Why does God grant me so much happiness. Where everything is given one, one cannot be proud, one bows one's head in humility.