Top 500 Louisa May Alcott Quotes (2024 Update)
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101. “Good, old-fashioned ways keep hearts sweet, heads sane, hands busy.”

— Louisa May Alcott

102. “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.”

— Louisa May Alcott

103. “Oh, Jo, how could you? Your one beauty.”

— Louisa May Alcott

104. “I find it poor logic to say that because women are good, women should vote. Men do not vote because they are good; they vote because they are male, and women should vote, not because we are angels and men are animals, but because we are human beings and citizens of this country.”

— Louisa May Alcott

105. “When you feel discontented, think over your blessings, and be grateful.”

— Louisa May Alcott

106. “I don’t believe I shall ever marry; I’m happy as I am, and love my liberty too well to be in any hurry to give it up for any mortal man.”

— Louisa May Alcott

107. “A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.”

— Louisa May Alcott

108. “That’s just why, because talent isn’t genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing. I won’t be a common-place dauber, so I don’t intend to try any more.”

— Louisa May Alcott

109. “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

110. “Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes.”

— Louisa May Alcott

111. “And when they went away, leaving comfort behind, I think there were not in all the city four merrier people than the hungry little girls who gave away their breakfasts and contented themselves with bread and milk on Christmas morning.”

— Louisa May Alcott

112. “Our actions are in our own hands, but the consequences of them are not. Remember that, my dear, and think twice before you do anything.”

— Louisa May Alcott

113. “I like good strong words that mean something.”

— Louisa May Alcott

114. “Don’t cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.”

— Louisa May Alcott

115. “The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.”

— Louisa May Alcott

116. “I had a pleasant time with my mind, for it was happy.”

— Louisa May Alcott

117. “Youth, health and freedom were meant to be enjoyed and I want to try every pleasure before I am too old to enjoy them.”

— Louisa May Alcott

118. “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.”

— Louisa May Alcott

119. “I’m perfectly miserable; but if you consider me presentable, I die happy.”

— Louisa May Alcott

120. “I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day.”

— Louisa May Alcott

121. “Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.”

— Louisa May Alcott

122. “El amor expulsa al miedo y la gratitud doblega al orgullo.”

— Louisa May Alcott

123. “It’s like the tide, Jo, when it turns it goes slowly – but it can’t be stopped.”

— Louisa May Alcott

124. “For the parents who had taught one child to meet death without fear, were trying now to teach another to accept life without despondency or distrust, and to use its beautiful opportunities with gratitude and power.”

— Louisa May Alcott

125. “Sometimes when we least expect it, a small cross proves a lovely crown, a seemingly unimportant event becomes a lifelong experience, or a stranger becomes a friend.”

— Louisa May Alcott

126. “There should always be one old maid in a family.”

— Louisa May Alcott

127. “I can’t do it. I wasn’t meant for a life like this, and I know I shall break away and do something desperate if somebody doesn’t come and help me,” she said to herself, when her first efforts failed and she fell into the moody, miserable state of mind which often comes when strong wills have to yield to the inevitable.”

— Louisa May Alcott

128. “Elegance has a bad effect on my constitution.”

— Louisa May Alcott

129. “Wait for me, my friend. I may be a little late, but I shall surely come.”

— Louisa May Alcott

130. “I for one don’t want to be ranked among idiots, felons, and minors any longer, for I am none of them.”

— Louisa May Alcott

131. “Read him well, and he will help you much, for the study of character in this book will help you to read it in the world and paint it with your pen.”

— Louisa May Alcott

132. “I want to be great, or nothing.”

— Louisa May Alcott

133. “I don’t like to doze by the fire. I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.”

— Louisa May Alcott

134. “I may be strong-minded, but no one can say I’m out of my sphere now, for woman’s special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens.”

— Louisa May Alcott

135. “Every house needs a grandmother in it.”

— Louisa May Alcott

136. “But buds will be roses, and kittens, cats – more’s the pity.”

— Louisa May Alcott

137. “I make so many beginnings there never will be an end.”

— Louisa May Alcott

138. “I’ll try to be what Father loves to call me, a ‘little woman,’ and not be rough and wild but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere else.”

— Louisa May Alcott

139. “I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all.”

— Louisa May Alcott

140. “A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.”

— Louisa May Alcott

141. “You laugh at me when I say I want to be a lady, but I mean a true gentlewoman in mind and manners, and I try to do it as far as I know how. I can’t explain exactly, but I want to be above the little meannesses and follies and faults that spoil so many women.”

— Louisa May Alcott

142. “John Brooke is acting dreadfully, and Meg likes it!”

— Louisa May Alcott

143. “Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety; it shows itself in acts rather than words, and has more influence than homilies or protestations.”

— Louisa May Alcott

144. “Rome took all the vanity out of me; for after seeing the wonders there, I felt too insignificant to live, and gave up all my foolish hopes in despair.”

— Louisa May Alcott

145. “Don’t, Jo. It’s so boyish!” “That’s why I do it.” “I detest rude, unladylike girls!” “I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!”

— Louisa May Alcott

146. “To Jo’s lively fancy, this fine house seemed a kind of enchanted palace, full of splendors and delights which no one enjoyed. She had long wanted to behold these hidden glories, and to know the “Laurence boy,” who looked as if he would like to be known, if he only ever knew how to begin.”

— Louisa May Alcott

147. “If I didn’t care about doing right and didn’t feel uncomfortable doing wrong, I should get on capitally.”

— Louisa May Alcott

148. “I know better!” broke in Laurie. “You think so now, but there’ll come a time when you will care for somebody, and you’ll love him tremendously, and live and die for him. I know you will, it’s your way, and I shall have to stand by and see it,” and the despairing lover cast his hat upon the ground with a gesture that would have seemed comical, if his face had not been so tragic.”

— Louisa May Alcott

149. “It is an excellent plan to have some place where we can go to be quiet, when things vex or grieve us. There are a good many hard times in this life of ours, but we can always bear them if we ask help in the right way.”

— Louisa May Alcott

150. “We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.”

— Louisa May Alcott