1. “Better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands.”
2. “…tomorrow was her birthday, and she was thinking how fast the years went by, how old she was getting, and how little she seemed to have accomplished. Almost twenty-five and nothing to show for it.”
3. “I hate estimable young men with brown eyes!”
4. “There’s mischief going on, and I insist upon knowing what it is.”
5. “I am glad a task to me is given, To labor at day by day, For it brings me health and strength and hope, And I cheerfully learn to say, “Head, you may think, Heart, you may feel, But, Hand, you shall work alway!”
6. “Go and make yourself useful, since you are too big to be ornamental.”
7. “I don’t pretend to be wise, but I am observing, and I see a great deal more than you’d imagine. I’m interested in other people’s experiences and inconsistencies, and, though I can’t explain, I remember and use them for my own benefit.”
8. “We’ll all grow up Meg, no pretending we won’t.”
9. “Just because my dreams are different than yours doesn’t mean their unimportant”
10. “Because, what?” “You won’t tell?” “Never!” “Well, I have a bad trick”
11. “Go out more, keep cheerful as well as busy, for you are the sunshine-maker of the family, and if you get dismal there is no fair weather.”
12. “…Jo loved a few persons very dearly and dreaded to have their affection lost or lessened in any way.”
13. “Be worthy love, and love will come.”
14. “A year seems very long to wait before I see them, but remind them that while we wait we may all work, so that these hard days need not be wasted.”
15. “It’s not half so sensible to leave legacies when one dies as it is to use the money wisely while alive, and enjoy making one’s fellow creatures happy with it.”
16. “I don’t like favors; they oppress and make me fell like a slave. I’d rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.”
17. “…I don’t believe that I shall ever marry; I’m happy as I am, and love my liberty too well to be in a hurry to give it up for any mortal man.”
18. “She was one of those happily created beings who please without effort, make friends everywhere, and take life so gracefully and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted to believe that such are born under a lucky star.”
19. “While we wait we may all work, so that these hard days need not be wasted.”
20. “I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.”
21. “He was not ashamed of it, but put it away as one of the bitter-sweet experiences of his life, for which he could be grateful when the pain was over.”
22. “Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is.”
23. “I Know I shall be homesick for you… Even in heaven”
24. “Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace.”
25. “Wouldn’t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true and we could live in them?”
26. “You have so many extraordinary gifts; how can you expect to lead an ordinary life? You’re ready to go out and – and find a good use for your talent.”
27. “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
28. “What a pleasant life she might have if only she chose! I don’ envy her much, in spite of her money, for after all rich people have about as many worries as poor ones, I think.”
29. “…because talent isn’t genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.”
30. “…in silence learned the sweet solace which affection administers to sorrow.”
31. “I wish I had a horse; then I could run for miles in this splendid air, and not lose my breath.”
32. “Laurie felt just then that his heart was entirely broken and the world a howling wilderness.”
33. “…the day had been both unprofitable and unsatisfactory, and he was wishing he could live it over again.”
34. “…and best of all, the wilderness of books, in which she could wander, where she liked, made the library a region of bliss to her.”
35. “It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys’ games and work and manners!”
36. “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.”
37. “During the fifteen minutes that followed, the proud and sensitive girl suffered a shame and pain which she never forgot. To others it might seem a ludicrous or trivial affair, but to her it was a hard experience, for during the twelve years of her life she had been governed by love alone”
38. “Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!”
39. “I like good strong words that mean something,”
40. “You are getting to be rather conceited, my dear, and it is quite time you set about correcting it. 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, even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.”
41. “Providence had taken her at her word; here was the task, – not what she had expected, but better, because self had no part in it; now could she do it?”
42. “I could have been a great many things.”
43. “Dear me! how happy and good we’d be, if we had no worries!.”
44. “Led by her mother’s hand, she had drawn nearer to the Friend who always welcomes every child with a love stronger than that of any father, tenderer than that of any mother.”
45. “Grief is the best opener of some hearts,”
46. “I don’t like to doze by the fire. I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.”
47. “it’s easier for me to risk my life for a person than to be pleasant to him when I don’t feel like it. It’s”
48. “We don’t agree and we never shall, so we’ll be good friends all our lives, but we won’t go and do anything rash.”
49. “Oh, don’t I wish I could manage things for you as I do for my heroines! You’re pretty enough and good enough already, so I’d have some rich relation leave you a fortune unexpectedly; then you’d dash out as an heiress, scorn everyone who has slighted you, go abroad, and como home my Lady Something in a blaze of splendor and elegance.”
50. “She preferred imaginary heroes to real ones, because when tired of them, the former could be shut up in the tin kitchen till called for, and the latter were less manageable.”
51. “Don’t try to make me grow up before my time.”
52. “If life is often so hard as this, I don’t see how we ever shall get through it…”
53. “Wealth is certainly a most desirable thing, but poverty has its sunny side, and one of the sweet uses of adversity is the genuine satisfaction which comes from hearty work of head or hand, and to the inspiration of necessity, we owe half the wise, beautiful, and useful blessings of the world. Jo enjoyed a taste of this satisfaction, and ceased to envy richer girls, taking great comfort in the knowledge that she could supply her own wants, and need ask no one for a penny.”
54. “I’m as handsome as ever, but no one takes any notice of me because I’m married.”
55. “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.”
56. “Life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.”
57. “for love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”
58. “Don’t be sorry, I won’t let it hurt me. I’ll forget all the bad and remember only the good, for I did enjoy a great deal.”
59. “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.”
60. “I think she is growing up, and so begins to dream dreams, and have hopes and fears and fidgets, without knowing why or being able to explain them.”
61. “…for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.”
62. “He never loses patience, never doubts or complains, but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him. 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.”
63. “I don’t like favors; they oppress and make me fell like a slave. I’d rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.”
64. “Love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.”
65. “I think we are all hopelessly flawed.”
66. “Better be happy old maids than unhappy wives”
67. “Rich or poor, we will keep together and be happy in one another.”
68. “Because, dear, I don’t think you suited to one another. As friends you are very happy, and your frequent quarrels soon blow over, but I fear you would both rebel if you were mated for life. You are too much alike and too fond of freedom, not to mention hot tempers and strong wills, to get on happily together, in a relation which needs infinite patience and forbearance, as well as love.”
69. “My dear, don’t let the sun go down upon your anger. Forgive each other, help each other, and begin again tomorrow.”
70. “Have 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.”
71. “It does seem pleasant to be quiet, and not have company manners on all the time. Home is a nice place, though it isn’t splendid.”
72. “I want to do something splendid…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 someday.”
73. “I might’ve said ‘yes,’ not because I love him any more, but because I care more to be loved than when he went away.”
74. “When we make little sacrifices we like to have them appreciated, at least.”
75. “She is fond of books and it has turned her brain.”
76. “No, winking isn’t ladylike.”
77. “Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow.”
78. “Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.”
79. “I want to be great or nothing”
80. “with blue eyes, and yellow hair curling on her shoulders, pale and slender, and always carrying herself like a young lady mindful of her manners. What the characters of the four sisters were we will leave to be found out.”
81. “You think then, that it is better to have a few duties and live a little for others, do you?”
82. “As she said, she was ‘fond of luxury’, and her chief trouble was poverty.”
83. “If he had any sorrow, “it sat with its head under its wing,” and he turned only his sunny side to the world.”
84. “…nothing seemed impossible in the beginning…”
85. “…feeling as if all the happiness and support of their lives was about to be taken from them.”
86. “I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Jo, – couldn’t help it, you’ve been so good to me, – I’ve tried to show it, but you wouldn’t let me; now I’m going to make you hear, and give me an answer, for I can’t go on so any longer.” – Laurie”
87. “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.”
88. “I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it’s good for me…”
89. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.”
90. “she won’t wish us to give up everything.”
91. “Rather a rough road for you to travel, my little pilgrims, especially the latter part of it. But you have got on bravely, and I think the burdens are in a fair way to tumble off very soon,”
92. “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.”
93. “I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.”
94. “Jo’s ambition was to do something very splendid; what it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to tell her…”
95. “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.”
96. “…she’ll go and fall in love, and there’s an end of peace and fun, and cozy times together.”
97. “I am angry nearly every day of my life.”
98. “Love is the only thing we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”
99. “I don’t like to doze by the fire. I like adventures, and I’m going to find some.”
100. “i do not pretend to be wise , but i am observing . . and i see a great deal more than you think”
101. “I agree not to expect anything”
102. “Don’t mind me. I’m as happy as a cricket here.”
103. “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 just for the fun of it.
104. “I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.”
105. “So she enjoyed herself heartily, and found, what isn’t always the case, that her granted wish was all she had hoped.”
106. “Six weeks is a long time to wait, and a still longer time for a girl to keep a secret…”
107. “I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,” added little Amy, with an injured sniff.”
108. “Each do our part alone in many things, but at home we work together, always.”
109. “… It’s selfish of you to keep teasing for what I can’t give. I shall always be fond of you, very fond indeed, as a friend, but I’ll never marry you, and the sooner you believe it the better for both of us.”
110. “November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,”
111. “I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.”
112. “…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.”
113. “Well, I am happy, and I won’t fret, but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants….”
114. “both of us hope and trust that our daughters, whether married or single, will be the pride and comfort of our lives.”
115. “He did not say a word, but took the hand she offered him, and laid his face down on it for a minute, feeling that out of the grave of a boyish passion, there had risen a beautiful, strong friendship to bless them both.”
116. “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.”
117. “You, you are, you’re a great deal too good for me, and I’m so grateful to you, and so proud and fond of you, I don’t know why I can’t love you as you want me to. I’ve tried, but I can’t change the feeling, and it would be a lie to say I do when I don’t.”
118. “The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.”
119. “…possessed of that indescribable charm called grace.”
120. “I don’t believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we do, in spite of our burned hair, old gowns, one glove apiece and tight slippers that sprain our ankles when we are silly enough to wear them.”
121. “You may be a little older in years, but I’m ever so much older in feeling, Teddy.”
122. “I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.”
123. “A quick temper, sharp tongue, and restless spirit were always getting her into scrapes, and her life was a series of ups and downs, which were both comic and pathetic.”
124. “I wish I had no heart, it aches so…”
125. “…marriage, they say, halves one’s rights and doubles one’s duties.”
126. “let us be elegant or die.”
127. “life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.”
128. “The more one gets the more one wants”
129. “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.”
130. “You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one.”
131. “Love covers a multitude of sins….”
132. “Make this home happy, so that you may be fit for homes of your own if they are offered you, and contented here if they are not.”
133. “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.”
134. “Mercy me! I don’t know anything about love and such nonsense! Cried Jo, with a funny mixture of interest and contempt.”
135. “How beautiful that is!” said Laurie softly, for he was quick to see and feel beauty of any kind.”
136. “Meg made many moral rules, and tried to keep them, but what mother was ever proof against the winning wiles, the ingenious evasions, or the tranquil audacity of the miniature men and women who so early show themselves accomplished Artful Dodgers?”
137. “Everyone scattered like leaves before a gust of wind, and the quiet, happy household was broken up as suddenly as if the paper had been an evil spell.”
138. “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”
139. “Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety; it shows itself in acts rather than in words, and has more influence than homilies or protestations.”
140. “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.”
141. “It’s like the tide, Jo, when it turns it goes slowly–but it can’t be stopped.”
142. “We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.”
143. “Fame is a very good thing to have in the house, but cash is more convenient,”
144. “Let us be elegant or die!”
145. “Love is a great beautifier.”
146. “In the possibility of a loyalty to the virtues which makes men manliest in good women’s eyes. If it is a feminine delusion, leave us to enjoy it while we may, for without it half the beauty and the romance of life is lost, and sorrowful forebodings would embitter all our hopes of the brave, tenderhearted little lads, who still love their mothers better than themselves and are not ashamed to own it.”
147. “It was the best thing he could have done, far more soothing than the most eloquent words, for Jo felt the unspoken sympathy, and in the silence learned the sweet solace which affection administers to sorrow.”
148. “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.”
149. “Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.”
150. “…I can’t help seeing that you are very lonely, and sometimes there is a hungry look in your eyes that goes to my heart.”
151. “she often “wept a little weep”
152. “Into each life some rain must fall, somedays must be dark and sad and dreary.”
153. “The great novelist vibrated between two decanters with the regularity of a pendulum.”
154. “Don’t cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it.”
155. ”Don’t try to make me grow up before my time, Meg.”
156. “I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world.”
157. “Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”
158. “Right Jo better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands.”
159. “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”
160. “I think anxiety is very interesting,” observed Amy, eating sugar pensively.”
161. “The sincere wish to be good is half the battle.”
162. “dear me, let us be elegant or die.”
163. “Jo had learned that hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally.”
164. “such hours are beautiful to live, but very hard to describe…”
165. “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 away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.”
166. “Don’t grieve and fret or think that you can comfort yourself by being idle and trying to forget. Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace. Hope and keep busy.”
167. “Your father, Jo. He never loses patience, never doubts or complains, but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him.”
168. “They were very happy, even after they discovered that they couldn’t live on love alone.”
169. “…freedom being the sauce best beloved by the boyish soul.”
170. “I’m perfectly miserable; but if you consider me presentable, I die happy.”
171. “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.”
172. “I don’t think secrets agree with me, I feel rumpled up in mind since you told me that…”
173. “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 workaday world again.”
174. “I think it was so splendid in Father to go as a chaplain when he was too old to be drafted, and not strong enough for a soldier, said Meg warmly.”
175. “Let’s hear the sound of the baby pianny.”
176. “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. They will feel that more than angry speeches or huffy actions, won’t they, Marmee?”
177. “There are many Beth’s in the world, who and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully, that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.”
178. “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,”
179. “People want to be amused, not preached at, you know. Morals don’t sell nowadays.” Which was not quite a correct statement, by the way.”
180. “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”
181. “I’m afraid I couldn’t like him without a spice of human naughtiness.”
182. “Nothing more,—except that 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.”
183. “You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.”
184. “If Marmee shook her fist instead of kissing her hand to us, it would serve us right, for more ungrateful wretches than we are were never seen,” cried Jo, taking a remorseful satisfaction in the snowy walk and bitter wind.”
185. “I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queen’s on thrones, without self-respect and peace.”
186. “You’ve got me, anyhow. I’m not good for much, I know, but I’ll stand by you, Jo, all the days of my life. Upon my word I will!” and Laurie meant what he said.”
187. “I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world!.”
188. “for to be independent, and earn the praise of those she loved, were the dearest wishes of her heart,”
189. “Let us be elegant or die!”