Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Louisa May Alcott

American Author and Novelist best known for Little Women

"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."

"One's outlook is a part of his virtue."

"My parents never bound us to any church but taught us that the love of goodness was the love of God, the cheerful doing of duty made life happy, and that the love of one’s neighbor in its widest sense was the best help for oneself. Their lives showed us how lovely this simple faith was, how much honor, gratitude and affection it brought them, and what a sweet memory they left behind."

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

"Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know."

"It takes two flints to make a fire."

"Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us - and those around us - more effectively. Look for the learning."

"He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions."

"We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing."

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

"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."

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."

"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."

"Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable."

"My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning, and may be many; but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. 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."

"It is the small temptations which undermine integrity unless we watch and pray and never think them too trivial to be resisted."

"Love is a great beautifier."

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

"Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive."

"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."

"Many argue; not many converse."

"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."

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

"I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it and now it's worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family."

"A kiss for a blow is always best, though it's not very easy to give it sometimes."

"A lover is not worth having if he?s not in earnest."

"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."

"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."

"A fit queen for that nest of roses was the human flower that adorned it, for a year of love and luxury had ripened her youthful beauty into a perfect bloom. Graceful by nature, art had little to do for her, and, with a woman?s aptitude, she had acquired the polish which society alone can give. Frank and artless as ever, yet less free in speech, less demonstrative in act; full of power and passion, yet still half unconscious of her gifts; beautiful with the beauty that wins the heart as well as satisfies the eye, yet unmarred by vanity or affectation. She now showed fair promise of becoming all that a deep and tender heart, an ardent soul and a gracious nature could make her, once life had tamed and taught her more."

"A capital patient, as she never died and never got well."

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

"A house needs a grandma in it."

"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."

"A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman."

"A woman's always safe and comfortable when a fellow's down on his luck."

"Ah! Thou gifest me such hope and courage, and I haf nothing to gif back but a full heart and these empty hands, cried the Professor, quite overcome. Jo never, never would learn to be proper, for when he said that as they stood upon the steps, she just put both hands into his, whispering tenderly, Not empty now, and, stooping down, kissed her Friedrich under the umbrella."

"Ah, if I could only feel assured that it was right and not a blind impulse of a weak woman's heart!'"

"A time will come when you will find that in gaining a brief joy you have lost your peace forever."

"All is fish that comes to the literary net. Goethe put his joys and sorrows into poems. I turn my adventures into bread and butter."

"A year seems very long to wait before I see them, but remind them that while we wait we may all work, so these hard days need not be wasted. I know they will remember all I said to them, that they will be loving children to you, will do their duty faithfully, fight their bosom enemies bravely, and conquer themselves so beautifully that when I come back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women."

"Action is always easier than quiet waiting."

"All the worse for the undeniable talent which hides the evil so subtly and makes the danger so delightful."

"An old maid, that?s what I?m to be. A literary spinster, with a pen for a spouse, a family of stories for children, and twenty years hence a morsel of fame, perhaps?"

"Amy's lecture did Laurie good, though, of course, he did not own it till long afterward. Men seldom do, for when women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do. Then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it. If it fails, they generously give her the whole."

"And I shall think her very mean indeed if she does not give me some of her gloves, for she has many of them, I've seen them myself.......and as you can see, I took the hint.......but not much love went into THAT package did it, my dear?"

"And mother-like, Mrs. Jo forgot the threatened chastisement in tender lamentations over the happy scapegrace."