An Old-Fashioned Girl Quotes

“The emerging woman ... will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied...strength and beauty must go together.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Persuasive influences are better than any amount of moralizing.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“To be strong, and beautiful, and go round making music all the time. Yes, she could do that, and with a very earnest prayer Polly asked for the strength of an upright soul, the beauty of a tender heart, the power to make her life a sweet and stirring song, helpful while it lasted, remembered when it died.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“We can't any of us do all we would like, but we can do our best for every case that comes to us, and that helps amazingly.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“And Polly did n't think she had done much; but it was one of the little things which are always waiting to be done in this world of ours, where rainy days come so often, where spirits get out of tune, and duty won't go hand in hand with pleasure. Little things of this sort are especially good work for little people; a kind little thought, an unselfish little act, a cheery little word, are so sweet and comfortable, that no one can fail to feel their beauty and love the giver, no matter how small they are. Mothers do a deal of this sort of thing, unseen, unthanked, but felt and remembered long afterward, and never lost, for this is the simple magic that binds hearts together, and keeps home happy.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“But, Polly, a principle that can't bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, isn't worthy of the name.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“The thought that, insignificant as she was, she yet might do some good, made her very careful of her acts and words, and so anxious to keep head contented and face happy, that she forgot her clothes, and made others do the same. She did not know it, but that good old fashion of simplicity made the plain gowns pretty, and the grace of unconsciousness beautified their little wearer with the charm that makes girlhood sweetest to those who truly love and reverence it.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Strength and beauty must go hand in hand”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“I don't want a religion that I put away with my Sunday clothes, and don't take out till the day comes around again; I want something to see and feel and live day by day.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Life, my brethren, is like plum-cake. In some the plums are all on the top, and we eat them gayly, till we suddenly find they are gone. In others the plums sink to the bottom, and we look for them in vain as we go on, and often come to them when it is too late to enjoy them. But in the well-made cake, the plums are wisely scattered all through, and every mouthful is a pleasure. We make our own cakes, in a great measure, therefore let us look to it, my brethren, that they are mixed according to the best receipt, baked in a well regulated oven, and gratefully eaten with a temperate appetite.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“It’s bad enough to love someone who don’t love you, but to have them told of it is perfectly awful. It makes me wild just to think of it. Ah, Fan, I’m getting so ill tempered and envious and wicked, I don’t know what will happen to me. - Polly”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“[It may be true that] men never know a pretty thing when they see it. [But men do] know a lady when they see one.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“I like the plain, old-fashioned churches, built for use, not show, where people met for hearty praying and preaching, and where everybody made their own music instead of listening to opera singers, as we do now. I don't care if the old churches were bare and cold, and the seats hard, there was real piety in them, and the sincerity of it was felt in the lives of the people. I don't want a religion that I put away with my Sunday clothes, and don't take out till the day comes round again; I want something to see and feel and live by day-by-day,”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“That was all I wanted!" whispered Polly, in a tone which caused him to feel that the race of angels was not entirely extinct.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Come, Philander, let us be a marching, Every one his true love a searching,"

Would be the most appropriate motto for this chapter, because, intimidated by the threats, denunciations, and complaints showered upon me in consequence of taking the liberty to end a certain story as I liked, I now yield to the amiable desire of giving satisfaction, and, at the risk of outraging all the unities, intend to pair off everybody I can lay my hands on.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“When you feel out of sorts, try to make some one else happy, and you will soon be so yourself.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Women have been called queens a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“...I think that woman can do a great deal for each other if they will only stop fearing what ‘people will think’ and take a hearty interest in whatever is going to fit their sisters and themselves to deserve and enjoy the rights God gave them. There are so many ways in which this can be done that I wonder they don’t see and improve them.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old Fashioned Girl

“Love scenes, if genuine, are indescribable; for to those who have enacted them, the most elaborate description seems tame, and to those who have not, the simplest picture seems overdone. So romancers had better let imagination paint for them that which is above all art, and leave their lovers to themselves during the happiest minutes of their lives.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“a principle that can't bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, is n't worthy of the name.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“You see, she learned to love him one summer (...) so she put her love away in a corner of her heart, and tried to forget it, hoping it would either die, or have a right to live.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“...Tom sat scowling over a pile of dilapidated books with his hand in his hair, as if his head was in danger of flying asunder with the tremendous effort he was making.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old Fashioned Girl

“Occasionally a matrimonial epidemic appears, especially toward spring, devastating society, thinning the ranks of bachelordom, and leaving mothers lamenting for their fairest daughters.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Polly shut her door hard, and felt ready to cry with vexation that her pleasure should be spoilt by such a silly idea, for, of all the silly freaks of this fast age, that of little people playing at love is about the silliest. Polly had been taught that it was a very serious and sacred thing, and, according to her notions, it was far more improper to flirt with one boy than to coast with a dozen.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old Fashioned Girl

“Then the thought had come to Polly that the velvet cloak didn't cover a right motherly heart, that the fretful face under the nodding purple plumes was not a tender motherly face, and that the hands in the delicate primrose gloves had put away something very sweet and precious. She thought of another woman whose dress never was too fine for little wet cheeks to lie against, or loving little arms to press; whose face, in spite of many lines and the grey hairs above it, was never sour or unsympathetic when children's eyes turned towards it; and whose hands never were too busy, too full or too nice to welcome and serve the little sons and daughters who freely brought their small hopes and fears, sins and sorrows, to her, who dealt out justice and mercy with such wise love. Ah that's a mother thought Polly, as the memory came warm into her heart, making her feel very rich, and pity Maud for being so poor.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Keep bobbing, and we'll come right by and by.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“She loved to do the "little things" that others did not see, or were too busy to stop for: and while doing them, without a thought of thanks, she made sunshine for herself as well as others. That is how I was brought up and how I brought up my children. <3”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

“You can turn your hand to anything, you clever girl, so do come and give me some advice, for I am in the depths of despair," said Fanny, when the "maid-of-all-work," as Polly called herself, found a leisure hour.
"What is it? Moths in the furs, a smokey chimney, or small-pox next door?" asked Polly as they entered Fan's room, where Maud was trying on old bonnets before the looking glass.
"Actually I have nothing to wear," began Fan impressively.”
― Louisa May Alcott, An Old Fashioned Girl