Louisa May Alcott

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship.

— Louisa May Alcott

It takes two flints to make a fire.

— Louisa May Alcott

Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors.

— Louisa May Alcott

Stay is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.

— Louisa May Alcott

It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.

— Louisa May Alcott

Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it.

— Louisa May Alcott

Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.

— Louisa May Alcott

Housekeeping ain't no joke.

— 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

Love is a great beautifier.

— Louisa May Alcott

Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

— Louisa May Alcott

What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?

— Louisa May Alcott

Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.

— Louisa May Alcott

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

— Louisa May Alcott

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 commonplace dauber, so I don't intend to try any more.

— Louisa May Alcott

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

There was a good deal of laughing and kissing and explaining, in the simple, loving fashion which makes these home-festivals so pleasant at the time, so sweet to remember long afterward, and then all fell to work.

— Louisa May Alcott

Father asked us what was God’s noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad; babies never are.

— Louisa May Alcott

I can’t get over my disappointment in not being a boy.

— Louisa May Alcott

Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.

— Louisa May Alcott

Housekeeping ain’t no joke.

— Louisa May Alcott

… public opinion is a giant which has frightened stouter-hearted Jacks on bigger beanstalks than hers.

— Louisa May Alcott

You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

— Louisa May Alcott