As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through links on this site. Your purchases help fund my content and come at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Little Women was first published in 1868, and it instantly captured people’s hearts.

Louisa May Alcott, the author, based a lot of the story on her own life growing up with her sisters in Massachusetts. 

The book is all about the March sisters – Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy – and their dreams, struggles, and growth as they navigate life during the Civil War. 

Alcott really challenged the usual ideas of what women were expected to do back then, and the March sisters were some of the strongest, most real female characters of their time.

Meet the Author

Louisa May Alcott was a writer who was ahead of her time. She was born in 1832 and was super passionate about social causes, like women’s rights and abolition. 

She’s best known for Little Women, but she wrote lots of books that continue to inspire people today. 

She truly understood the power of family and the importance of following your dreams.

Meet the Book

Little Women is a beautiful, timeless story about family, love, and finding your place in the world. 

The March sisters each have their own dreams and challenges, and the book really makes you think about what it means to be a woman and a person who follows their heart. 

Honestly, this book feels like home to me. There’s just something so special about it – maybe because Alcott made it so personal. 

I find myself coming back to it over and over again because it reminds me of all the good stuff in life: love, family, and never giving up on your dreams.

The Best Quotes from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 

1. “I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good. To be admired, loved, and respected. To have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send. To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman, and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience.”

2. “I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.”

3. “Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow…”

4. “I like good strong words that mean something…”

5. “You have grown abominably lazy, and you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly people, instead of being loved and respected by wise ones.”

6. “Be worthy love, and love will come.”

7. “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.”

8. “I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world!”

9. “Love is a great beautifier.”

10. “You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.”

11. “Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.”

12. “I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.”

13. “Don’t try to make me grow up before my time…”

14. “Jo had learned that hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally…”

15. “Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”

16. “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.”

17. “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

18. “The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.”

19. “Wouldn’t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true and we could live in them?”

20. “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.”

21. “You are like a chestnut burr, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel, if one can only get at it. Love will make you show your heart some day, and then the rough burr will fall off.”

22. “I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.”

23. “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.”

24. “Don’t laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragic romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under the sober gowns, and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself, make the faded faces beautiful in God’s sight. Even the sad, sour sisters should be kindly dealt with, because they have missed the sweetest part of life, if for no other reason.”

25. “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.”

26. “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.”

27. “I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands.”

28. “You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one.”

29. “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. I couldn’t seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there. 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.”

30. “I don’t like favors; they oppress and make me feel like a slave. I’d rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.”

31. “I wish I had no heart, it aches so…”

32. “Conceit spoils the finest genius.”

33. “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.”

34. “Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.”

35. “Let us be elegant or die!”

36. “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.”

37. “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.”

38. “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

39. “Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is.”

40. “You are like a chestnut burr, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel, if one can only get at it. Love will make you show your heart some day, and then the rough burr will fall off.”

41. “I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.”

42. “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.”

43. “Don’t try to make me grow up before my time…”

44. “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.”

45. “I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good.”

46. “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.”

47. “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.”

48. “You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.”

49. “I don’t like favors; they oppress and make me feel like a slave. I’d rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.”

50. “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.”

51. “You have grown abominably lazy, and you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly people, instead of being loved and respected by wise ones.”

52. “Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”

53. “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. I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.”

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

55. “I Know I shall be homesick for you… Even in heaven.”

56. “We’ll all grow up someday, Meg, we might as well know what we want.”

57. “I’m afraid I couldn’t like him without a spice of human naughtiness.”

58. “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.”

59. “I don’t think secrets agree with me, I feel rumpled up in mind since you told me that…”

60. “I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.”

If you loved this post, make sure to check out the related posts for more literary goodness, and feel free to leave a comment below to share your thoughts on Little Women! 

I’d love to hear what your favorite quotes or moments are from the book!