Quotes from Louisa May Alcott

Learn to know and value the praise which is worth having, and to excite the admiration of excellent people by being modest as well as pretty

I do not ask for any crown But that which all may win; Nor try to conquer any world Except the world within.

The sincere wish to be good is half the battle.

I only mean to say that I have a feeling that it never was intended I should live long. I'm not like the rest of you.

We live in a beautiful and wonderful world, Demi, and the more you now about it the wiser and the better you will be.

We each are young, we each have a heart, Oh, why should we thus stand coldly apart

Young people think they never can change, but they do in the most wonderful manner, and very few die of broken hearts.

I can get on with wild beasts first-rate; but men rile me awfully…

In the midst of her tears came the thought, When people are in danger, they ask God to save them; and, slipping down upon her knees, she said her prayer as she had never said it before, for when human help seems gone we turn to Him as naturally as lost children cry to their father, and feel sure that he will hear and answer them.

that's what old people are here for, — else their experience is of little use.

A happy soul in a healthy body makes the best sort of beauty for man or woman.

the world is hard on ambitious girls

I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy, and it's worse than ever now, for I'm dying to go and fight with Papa, and I can only stay home and knit like a poky old woman (Josephine)

Send me all the advice you like. I'll use as much as I can.

because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man.

Back to him she would never go, but in her lonely life still lived the sweet memory of that happy time when she believed in him and he was all in all to her.

Children should be children as long as they can

There is no other help or hope for human weakness but God's love and patience.

I've been so bothered with my property, that I'm tired of it, and don't mean to save up any more, but give it away as I go along, and then nobody will envy me, or want to steal it, and I shan't be suspecting folks and worrying about my old cash.

I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good; to be admired, loved, and respected; to have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send. To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman; and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience.

It's lovely to see people so happy.

Love and Loyalty If ever men and women are their simplest, sincerest selves, it is when suffering softens the one, and sympathy strengthens the other.

to the inspiration of necessity, we owe half the wise, beautiful, and useful blessings of the world.

It's not half so sensible to leave legacies when one dies as it is to use the money wisely while alive, and enjoy making one's fellow creatures happy with it.