"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain."
— Louisa May Alcott (Work: A Story of Experience)

"Stay is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary."
— Louisa May Alcott

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"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."
— Louisa May Alcott

"A faithful friend is a strong defense;
And he that hath found him hath found a treasure."
— Louisa May Alcott

"I ask not for any crown
But that which all may win;
Nor try to conquer any world
Except the one within."
— Louisa May Alcott

"Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable."
— Louisa May Alcott

"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."
— Louisa May Alcott

"My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning, and may be many; but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"That is a good book it seems to me, which is opened with expectation and closed with profit."
— Louisa May Alcott

"Love is a great beautifier."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"Laurie, you're an angel! How shall I ever thank you?"
"Fly at me again. I rather liked it," said Laurie, looking
mischievous, a thing he had not done for a fortnight."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."
— Louisa May Alcott

"Don't laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragic romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under the sober gowns, and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself, make the faded faces beautiful in God's sight. Even the sad, sour sisters should be kindly dealt with, because they have missed the sweetest part of life, if for no other reason."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"Let us be elegant or die! --Amy"
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"Have a 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."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art."
— Louisa May Alcott (A Long Fatal Love Chase)

"Life is like college; may I graduate and earn some honors."
— Louisa May Alcott

"...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."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"...for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"If we are all alive ten years hence, let's meet, and see how many of us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"...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."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"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 way at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"... for it is the small temptations which undermine integrity unless we watch and pray and never think them too trivial to be resisted."
— Louisa May Alcott (Rose in Bloom)

"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)"
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

". . . for when women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do. Then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it. If it fails, they generously give her the whole."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"But the spirit of Eve is strong in all her daughters."
— Louisa May Alcott (Rose in Bloom)

"He was the first, the only love her life, and in a nature like hers such passions take deep root and die-hard."
— Louisa May Alcott (A Long Fatal Love Chase)

"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. (Amy March to Teddy Lawrence)"
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"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)"
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"She is too fond of books, and it has addled her brain."
— Louisa May Alcott

"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."
— Louisa May Alcott

"...Meg learned to love her husband better for his poverty, because it seem to have made a man of him, giving him the strength and courage to fight his own way, and taught him a tender patience with which to bear and comfort the natural longings and failures of those he loved."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"[She was] kept there in the sort of embrace a man gives to the dearest creature the world holds for him."
— Louisa May Alcott (Eight Cousins)

"My only answer is, if my grave stood open on one side and you upon the other I'd go into my grave before I would take one step to meet you."
— Louisa May Alcott (A Long Fatal Love Chase)

"I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.
"
— Louisa May Alcott

"Well, if I can't be happy, I can be useful, perhaps."
— Louisa May Alcott

"Jo's eyes sparkled, for it's always pleasant to be believed in; and a friend's praise is always sweeter than a dozen newspaper puffs."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"I’m not like the rest of you; I never made any plans about what I’d do when I grew up; I never thought of being married, as you did. I couldn’t seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there. I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is leaving you all. I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"...and clung more closely to the dear human love, from which our Father never means us to be weaned, but through which He draws us closer to Himself."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"Life is my college."
— Louisa May Alcott

"Conceit spoils the finest genius."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

". . . children should draw [a husband & wife] nearer than ever, not separate you, as if they were all yours, and [your husband] had nothing to do but support them. . . . don't neglect husaband for children, don't shut him out of the nursery, but teach him how to help in it. His place is there as well as yours, and the children need him; let him feel that he has his part to do, and he will do it gladly and faithfully, and it will be better for you all. . . . That is the secret of our home happiness: he does not let business wean him from the little cares and duties that affect us all, and I try not to let domestic worries destroy my interest in his pursuits. Each do our part alone in many things, but at home we work together, always. . . . no time is so beautiful and precious to parents as the first years of the little lives given them to train. Don't let [your husband] be a stranger to the babies, for they will do more to keep him safe and happy in this world of trial and temptation than anything else, and through them you will learn to know and love one another as you should."
— Louisa May Alcott (Good Wives. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: Being a Sequel to 'Little Women'. With Illustrations by Jessie T. Mitchell)

"What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?"
— Louisa May Alcott

"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."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Men)

"There were six dolls to be taken up and dressed every morning, for Beth was a child still, and loved her pets as well as ever. Not one whole or handsome one among them; all were outcasts till Beth took them in; for, when her sisters outgrew these idols, they passed to her.... Beth cherished them all the more tenderly for that very reason, and set up a hospital for infirm dolls. No pins were ever stuck into their cotton vitals; no harsh words or blows were ever given them; no neglect ever saddened the heart of the most repulsive: but all were fed and clothed, nursed and caressed, with an affection which never failed."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"When Jo's conservative sister Meg says she must turn up her hair now that she is a "young lady," Jo shouts, "I'm not! and if turning up my hair makes me one, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty.... I hate to think I've got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China aster! It's bad enough to be a girl anyway, when I like boys' games and work and manners! 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 at home and knit, like a poky old woman."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)