Top 500 Louisa May Alcott Quotes (2025 Update)
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451. “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.”

— Louisa May Alcott

452. “Send me all the advice you like. I’ll use as much as I can.”

— Louisa May Alcott

453. “To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman.”

— Louisa May Alcott

454. “It was easier to try for your sakes than for my own; a startled or surprised look from one of you when I spoke sharply rebuked me more than any words could have done; and 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

455. “My little girl, I would face a dozen storms far worse than this to keep your soul as stainless as snow; 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

456. “Why in the world should you spend your money, worry your family, and turn the house upside down for a parcel of girls who don’t care a sixpence for you? I.”

— Louisa May Alcott

457. “The first of June! The Kings are off to the seashore tomorrow, and I’m free. Three months’ vacation – how I shall enjoy it!” exclaimed Meg, coming home one warm day to find Jo laid upon the sofa in an unusual state of exhaustion, while Beth took off her dusty boots, and Amy made lemonade for the refreshment of the whole party.”

— Louisa May Alcott

458. “Don’t try to make me grow up before my time...”

— Louisa May Alcott

459. “Las personas buenas y muy queridas son las que mueren siempre.”

— Louisa May Alcott

460. “But a bird sang blithely on a budding bough, close by, the snowdrops blossomed freshly at the window, and the spring sunshine streamed in like a benediction over the placid face upon the pillow, a face so full of painless peace that those who loved it best smiled through their tears, and thanked God that Beth was well at last.”

— Louisa May Alcott

461. “How well we pull together, don’t we?” said Amy, who objected to silence just then. “So well that I wish we might always pull in the same boat. Will you, Amy?” very tenderly. “Yes, Laurie,” very low. Then they both stopped rowing, and unconsciously added a pretty little tableau of human love and happiness to the dissolving views reflected in the lake.”

— Louisa May Alcott

462. “My lady,” as her friends called her, sincerely desired to be a genuine lady, and was so at heart, but had yet to learn that money cannot buy refinement of nature, that rank does not always confer nobility, and that true breeding makes itself felt in spite of external drawbacks.”

— Louisa May Alcott

463. “Like a confiding child, she asked no questions, but left everything to God and nature, Father and Mother of us all, feeling sure that they, and they only, could teach and strengthen heart and spirit for this life and the life to come. She did not rebuke Jo with saintly speeches, only loved her better for her passionate affection, 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

464. “Amy was much offended that her overtures of peace had been repulsed, and began to wish she had not humbled herself, to feel more injured than ever, and to plume herself on her superior virtue in a way which was particularly exasperating.”

— Louisa May Alcott

465. “There are a good many hard times in this life of ours, but we can always bear them if we ask help n the right way.”

— Louisa May Alcott

466. “Genius. Don’t you wish you could give it to me, Laurie?” And she slyly smiled in his disappointed face.”

— Louisa May Alcott

467. “But I don’t think the little we should spend would do any good. We’ve each got a dollar, and the army wouldn’t be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy Undine and Sintram for myself. I’ve wanted it so long,” said Jo, who was a bookworm.”

— Louisa May Alcott

468. “It’s a great mistake for young girls like Meg to leave themselves nothing to do but dress, give orders, and gossip. When I was first married, I used to long for my new clothes to wear out or get torn, so that I might have the pleasure of mending them, for I got heartily sick of doing fancywork and tending my pocket handkerchief.”

— Louisa May Alcott

469. “If he had any sorrow, “it sat with its head under its wing,” and he turned only his sunny side to the world.”

— Louisa May Alcott

470. “A large sheaf, but I know there’s room in your heart for it, Marmee dear,” added Meg’s tender voice. Touched to the heart, Mrs. March could only stretch out her arms, as if to gather children and grandchildren to herself, and say, with face and voice full of motherly love, gratitude, and humility... “Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!”

— Louisa May Alcott

471. “Up in the garret, where Jo’s unquiet wanderings ended, stood four little wooden chests in a row, each marked with its owner’s name, and each filled with relics of childhood and girlhood ended now for all.”

— Louisa May Alcott

472. “That’s loving our neighbor better than ourselves, and I like it,” said Meg, as they set out their presents while their mother was upstairs collecting clothes for the poor Hummels.”

— Louisa May Alcott

473. “He was in one of his moods, for the day had been both unprofitable and unsatisfactory, and he was wishing he could live it over again.”

— Louisa May Alcott

474. “Lounging and larking doesn’t pay,” observed Jo, shaking her head. “I’m tired of it and mean to go to work at something right off.”

— Louisa May Alcott

475. “Don’t you feel that it is pleasanter to help one another, to have daily duties with make leisure sweet when it comes, and to bear and for bear, that home may be comfortable and lovely to us all?”

— Louisa May Alcott

476. “If Jo is a tomboy and Amy a goose, what.”

— Louisa May Alcott

477. “Some old people keep young at heart in spite of wrinkles and gray hairs, can sympathize with children’s little cares and joys, make them feel at home, and can hide wise lessons under pleasant plays, giving and receiving friendship in the sweetest way.”

— Louisa May Alcott

478. “Queens of society can’t get on without money, so you mean to make a good match, and start in that way? Quite right and proper, as the world goes, but it sounds odd from the lips of one of your mother’s girls.”

— Louisa May Alcott

479. “If I was a boy, we’d run away together, and have a capital time; but as I’m a miserable girl, I must be proper, and stop at home. Don’t tempt me, Teddy, it’s a crazy plan.”

— Louisa May Alcott

480. “What a pleasant life she might have, if she only chose. I don’t envy her much, in spite of her money, for after all rich people have about as many worries as poor ones, I think,” added Jo.”

— Louisa May Alcott

481. “I’m not a show, Aunty, and no one is coming to stare at me, to criticize my dress, or count the cost of my luncheon. I’m too happy to care what anyone says or thinks, and I’m going to have my little wedding just as I like it.”

— Louisa May Alcott

482. “It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women. Amy was learning this distinction through much tribulation, for mistaking enthusiasm for inspiration, she attempted every branch of art with.”

— Louisa May Alcott

483. “Talent isn’t genius.”

— Louisa May Alcott

484. “Mrs. March knew that experience was an excellent teacher, and when it was possible she left her children to learn alone the lessons which she would gladly have made easier, if they had not objected to taking advice as much as they did salts and senna. “Very well, Amy, if your heart is set upon it, and you see your way through without too great an outlay of money, time, and temper, I’ll say no more. Talk it over with the girls, and whichever way you decide, I’ll do my best to help you.”

— Louisa May Alcott

485. “If you loved me, Jo, I should be a perfect saint, for you could make me anything you like.”

— Louisa May Alcott

486. “Hither, hither, from thy home, Airy sprite, I bid thee come! Born of roses, fed on dew, Charms and potions canst thou brew? Bring me here, with elfin speed, The fragrant philter which I need. Make it sweet and swift and strong, Spirit, answer now my song!”

— Louisa May Alcott

487. “I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world.”

— Louisa May Alcott

488. “But that autumn the serpent got into Meg’s paradise, and tempted her like many a modern Eve, not with apples, but with dress.”

— Louisa May Alcott

489. “I am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world, – marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting.”

— Louisa May Alcott

490. “He helped and comforted me, and showed me that I must try to practice all the virtues I would have my little girls possess, for I was their example. It was easier to try for your sakes than for my own. A startled or surprised look from one of you when I spoke sharply rebuked me more than any words could have done, and 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

491. “A good fit of illness proves the value of health; real danger tries one’s mettle; and self-service Sweetner character.”

— Louisa May Alcott

492. “Her arms instinctively tightened their hold upon the dearest treasure she possessed.”

— Louisa May Alcott

493. “The sun was low, and the heavens glowed with the splendor of an autumn sunset. Gold and purple clouds lay on the hilltops, and rising high into the ruddy light were silvery white peaks that shone like the airy spires of some Celestial City.”

— Louisa May Alcott

494. “Providence trains us by disappointment, surprises us with unexpected success, and turns our seeming trials into blessings.”

— Louisa May Alcott

495. “I wish I had a horse; then I could run for miles in this splendid air, and not lose my breath.” Jo.”

— Louisa May Alcott

496. “So, sitting at the dear little piano, Beth softly touched the keys, and in the sweet voice they had never thought to hear again, sang to her own accompaniment the quaint hymn, which was a singularly fitting song for her.”

— Louisa May Alcott

497. “She knew she looked well, she loved to dance, she felt that her foot was on the native heath in a ball-room, and enjoyed the delightful sense of power which comes when young girls first discover the new and lovely kingdom they are born to rule by virtue of beauty, youth, and womanhood.”

— Louisa May Alcott

498. “I’d rather stay here, thank you.” “Well, you can’t, there isn’t room. Go and make yourself useful, since you are too big to be ornamental.”

— Louisa May Alcott

499. “He never spoke of himself, and in a conversation with Miss Norton divulged the pleasing fact. From her Jo learned it, and liked it all the better because Mr. Bhaer had never told it. She felt proud to know that he was an honored Professor in Berlin, though only a poor language-master in America, and his homely, hard-working life was much beautified by the spice of romance which this discovery gave it.”

— Louisa May Alcott

500. “But, Sir, I thought every story should have some sort of a moral, so I took care to have a few of my sinners repent.”

— Louisa May Alcott