"Love is the only thing
that we can carry with us when we go,
and it makes the end so easy."
-Louisa May Alcott

"Helping one another is part of
the religion of our sisterhood."
-Louisa May Alcott

"Many argue; not many converse."
-Louisa May Alcott

"Resolve to take fate by the throat
and shake a living out of her."
-Louisa May Alcott

"I believe that it is as much a right and duty
for women to do something with their lives
as for men and we are not going to be satisfied
with such frivolous parts as you give us."
-Louisa May Alcott

" 'Stay' is a charming word
in a friend's vocabulary."
-Louisa May Alcott

"I asked for bread,
and I got a stone in
the shape of a pedestal."
-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

"I put in my list all the busy,
useful independent spinsters I know,
for liberty is a better husband
than love to many of us."
-Louisa May Alcott

"Housekeeping ain't no joke!"
-Louisa May Alcott

"I am angry nearly every day of my life,
but I have learned not to show it;
and I still try to hope not to feel it,
though it may take me
another forty years to do it."
-Louisa May Alcott

"People don't have fortunes
left them nowadays; men have to work,
and women to marry for money.
It's a dreadfully unjust world."
-Louisa May Alcott

"Now we are expected to be as wise
as men who have had generations
of all the help there is,
and we scarcely anything."
-Louisa May Alcott

"Now I am beginning to live a little
and feel less like a sick oyster at low tide."
-Louisa May Alcott

"I'm not afraid of storms,
for I'm learning how to sail my ship."
-Louisa May Alcott

I do not ask for any crown
But that which all may win;
Nor try to conquer any world
Except the one within.
Be Thou my guide until I find
Led by a tender hand,
The happy kingdom in myself
And dare to take command.
-Louisa May Alcott

= Thoreau's Flute =
Above man's aims his nature rose.
The wisdom of a just content
Made one small spot a continent,
And turned to poetry life's prose.
-Louisa May Alcott

A child her wayward pencil drew
On margins of her book;
Garlands of flower, dancing elves,
Bud, butterfly, and brook,
Lessons undone, and plum forgot,
Seeking with hand and heart
The teacher whom she learned to love
Before she knew t'was Art.
-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

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

"It takes two flints to make a fire."
-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

"It takes very little fire
to make a great deal of smoke nowadays,
and notoriety is not real glory."
-Louisa May Alcott

"A faithful friend is a strong defense;
And he that hath found him hath found a treasure."
-Louisa May Alcott

"My definition of a philosopher
is of a man up in a balloon,
with his family and friends
holding the ropes which confine him
to earth and trying to haul him down."
-Louisa May Alcott

"Father asked us what was God's noblest work.
Anna said men, but I said babies.
Men are often bad, but babies never are."
-Louisa May Alcott

"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

"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 be delightful,
old age will bring few regrets,
and life will become a beautiful success."
-Louisa May Alcott

"People want to be amused,
not preached at, you know.
Morals don't sell nowadays."
-Louisa May Alcott