Quotes from A Little Princess

“Whatever comes," she said, "cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn't said afterward. There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in--that's stronger. It's a good thing not to answer your enemies.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things—help and comfort and laughter—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Everything's a story - You are a story -I am a story.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.

"It makes me feel as if something had hit me," Sara had told Ermengarde once in confidence. "And as if I want to hit back. I have to remember things quickly to keep from saying something ill-tempered.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty, or smart, or young. They’re still princesses.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Perhaps to be able to learn things quickly isn't everything. To be kind is worth a great deal to other people...Lots of clever people have done harm and have been wicked.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“How it is that animals understand things I do not know, but it is certain that they do understand. Perhaps there is a language which is not made of words and everything in the world understands it. Perhaps there is a soul hidden in everything and it can always speak, without even making a sound, to another soul.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“When people are insulting you, there is nothing so good for them as not to say a word -- just to look at them and think. When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wished they hadn't said afterward. There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in -- that's stronger. It's a good thing not to answer your enemies.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Somehow, something always happens just before things get to the very worst. It is as if Magic did it. If I could only just remember that always. The worse thing never quite comes.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Perhaps there is a language which is not made of words and everything in the world understands it.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“What you have to do with your mind, when your body is miserable, is to make it think of something else.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Perhaps you can feel if you can’t hear,” was her fancy. “Perhaps kind thoughts reach people somehow, even through windows and doors and walls. Perhaps you feel a little warm and comforted, and don’t know why, when I am standing here in the cold and hoping you will get well and happy again.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“She did not care very much for other little girls, but if she had plenty of books she could console herself.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“I pretend I am a princess,so that I can try and behave like one.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“I don't like it, papa," she said. "But then I dare say soldiers - even brave ones - don't really like going into battle.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Are you learning me by heart, little Sara?" he said, stroking her hair.
"No," she answered. "I know you by heart. You are inside my heart.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“But I suppose there might be good in things, even if we don't see it.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“I dare say it is rather hard to be a rat,” she mused. “Nobody likes you. People jump and run away and scream out: ‘Oh, a horrid rat!’ I shouldn’t like people to scream and jump and say: ‘Oh, a horrid Sara!’ the moment they saw me, and set traps for me, and pretend they were dinner. It’s so different to be a sparrow. But nobody asked this rat if he wanted to be a rat when he was made. Nobody said: ‘Wouldn’t you rather be a sparrow?”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“All women are princesses , it is our right.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Yes," answered Sara, nodding. "Adversity tries people, and mine has tried you and proved how nice you are.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“The truth is that when one is still a child-or even if one is grown up- and has been well fed, and has slept long and softly and warm; when one has gone to sleep in the midst of a fairy story, and has wakened to find it real, one cannot be unhappy or even look as if one were; and one could not, if one tried, keep a glow of joy out of one's eyes.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“If Sara had been a boy and lived a few centuries ago, her father used to say, 'she would have gone about the country with her sword drawn, rescuing and defending everyone in distress. She always wants to fight when she sees people in trouble.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Perhaps you can feel if you can't hear. Perhaps kind thoughts reach people somehow, even through windows and doors and walls. Perhaps you feel a little warm and comforted.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“She says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you think of, and what you do.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“Things happen to people by accident.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“It's so easy that when you begin you can't stop. You just go on and on doing it always.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

“It's true," she said. "Sometimes I do pretend I am a princess. I pretend I am a princess, so that I can try and behave like one.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, quote from A Little Princess

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Popular quotes

“It’s in our own interests to look at eternity. Looking at eternity brings us back to ourselves, makes us face ourselves—and what do we see? We see something mortal, we see our ideas, we see our thoughts, we see our attitudes, we see what we want, what we remember—all of this is in time. All of this is going to be taken away; it’s going to vanish, that’s inevitable.”
― Belzebuub, quote from Gazing Into the Eternal

“Memories do not always soften with time; some grow edges like knives.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, quote from The Lacuna

“It’s not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it’s a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way with you.”
― Daniel James Brown, quote from The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

“And his life was now, he felt, one monumental unreality, in which everything that did not matter - professional ambitions, the private pursuit of status, the colour of wallpaper, the size of an office or the matter of a dedicated car parking space - was treated with the greatest significance, and everything that did matter - pleasure, joy, friendship, loved - was deemed somehow peripheral.”
― Richard Flanagan, quote from The Narrow Road to the Deep North

“He began the patter, the Ladies-and-gentlemen-I-want-to-welcome-you-to. Dot and Bertie Fetters sat forward in their seats, so thrilled to be entertained that for the moment they forgot that the purpose of their trip was to mourn. But then that was the point of magic, to take people in, make them forget what was real and possible. They were so utterly game that when Sam Spender asked if there was anyone in the audience from out of town, they raised their hands, not knowing that everyone in Los Angeles was from out of town.”
― Ann Patchett, quote from The Magician's Assistant

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.