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I’m sure by now all of us have had some interaction with Little Women. The book was a staple in many of our childhoods and a monumental movement in feminism. And all the inspiration and truth found in Little Women’s pages can be accredited to its author, Louisa May Alcott.
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Alcott was a novelist, poet, feminist, and abolitionist all of her life. She changed the way women viewed and spoke about themselves and she gave all girls — whether they identified with Jo, Meg, Amy, or Beth — a voice and someone to look up to.
While Little Women was Alcott’s most well-known book, she wrote many more, including Little Men, Jo’s Boys, The Inheritance, and more. She wrote under the pen name “A. M. Barnard” when she was writing “sensation novels” that wouldn’t be “appropriate” for a woman to write and even published A Modern Mephistopheles anonymously.
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Today, we want to honor Alcott’s amazing work and breathtaking words by sharing some of our favorites Louisa May Alcott quotes with you!
On Goals
“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I cannot reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty; believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”
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“Go and make yourself useful, since you are too big to be ornamental.”
On Tenacity
“If people really want to go, and really try all their lives, I think they will get in; for I don’t believe there are any locks on that door or any guards at the gate. I always imagine it is as it is in the picture, where the shining ones stretch out their hands to welcome poor Christian as he comes up from the river.”
“Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.”
On Beauty
“If you dear little girls would only learn what real beauty is and not pinch and starve and bleach yourselves out so, you’d save an immense deal of time and money and pain. A happy soul in a healthy body makes the best sort of beauty for man or woman.”
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“It’s amazing how lovely common things become if one only knows how to look at them.”
On Feminism
“Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given [to] them isn’t worth ruling.”
“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.”
On Work
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“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 you will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.”
On Strength
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“The emerging woman… will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied… strength and beauty must go together.”
On Pain
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“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.”
On Dreams
“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.”
“Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your faults.”
Excuse us, we’re putting down our cross-stitching, grabbing our Little Women books, and destroying the patriarchy. Who’s with us? Comment below who you’d like to hear quotes from next!
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