Quotes from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“The emerging woman ... will be strong-minded, strong-hearted, strong-souled, and strong-bodied...strength and beauty must go together.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Persuasive influences are better than any amount of moralizing.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“To be strong, and beautiful, and go round making music all the time. Yes, she could do that, and with a very earnest prayer Polly asked for the strength of an upright soul, the beauty of a tender heart, the power to make her life a sweet and stirring song, helpful while it lasted, remembered when it died.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“We can't any of us do all we would like, but we can do our best for every case that comes to us, and that helps amazingly.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“But, Polly, a principle that can't bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, isn't worthy of the name.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“ strength and beauty must go hand in hand ”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“And Polly did n't think she had done much; but it was one of the little things which are always waiting to be done in this world of ours, where rainy days come so often, where spirits get out of tune, and duty won't go hand in hand with pleasure. Little things of this sort are especially good work for little people; a kind little thought, an unselfish little act, a cheery little word, are so sweet and comfortable, that no one can fail to feel their beauty and love the giver, no matter how small they are. Mothers do a deal of this sort of thing, unseen, unthanked, but felt and remembered long afterward, and never lost, for this is the simple magic that binds hearts together, and keeps home happy.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“The thought that, insignificant as she was, she yet might do some good, made her very careful of her acts and words, and so anxious to keep head contented and face happy, that she forgot her clothes, and made others do the same. She did not know it, but that good old fashion of simplicity made the plain gowns pretty, and the grace of unconsciousness beautified their little wearer with the charm that makes girlhood sweetest to those who truly love and reverence it.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“It’s bad enough to love someone who don’t love you, but to have them told of it is perfectly awful. It makes me wild just to think of it. Ah, Fan, I’m getting so ill tempered and envious and wicked, I don’t know what will happen to me. - Polly”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“I like the plain, old-fashioned churches, built for use, not show, where people met for hearty praying and preaching, and where everybody made their own music instead of listening to opera singers, as we do now. I don't care if the old churches were bare and cold, and the seats hard, there was real piety in them, and the sincerity of it was felt in the lives of the people. I don't want a religion that I put away with my Sunday clothes, and don't take out till the day comes round again; I want something to see and feel and live by day-by-day,”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“That was all I wanted!" whispered Polly, in a tone which caused him to feel that the race of angels was not entirely extinct.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“[It may be true that] men never know a pretty thing when they see it. [But men do] know a lady when they see one.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Life, my brethren, is like plum-cake. In some the plums are all on the top, and we eat them gayly, till we suddenly find they are gone. In others the plums sink to the bottom, and we look for them in vain as we go on, and often come to them when it is too late to enjoy them. But in the well-made cake, the plums are wisely scattered all through, and every mouthful is a pleasure. We make our own cakes, in a great measure, therefore let us look to it, my brethren, that they are mixed according to the best receipt, baked in a well regulated oven, and gratefully eaten with a temperate appetite.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Come, Philander, let us be a marching, Every one his true love a searching,"

Would be the most appropriate motto for this chapter, because, intimidated by the threats, denunciations, and complaints showered upon me in consequence of taking the liberty to end a certain story as I liked, I now yield to the amiable desire of giving satisfaction, and, at the risk of outraging all the unities, intend to pair off everybody I can lay my hands on.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Women have been called queens a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“a principle that can't bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, is n't worthy of the name.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Occasionally a matrimonial epidemic appears, especially toward spring, devastating society, thinning the ranks of bachelordom, and leaving mothers lamenting for their fairest daughters.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Keep bobbing, and we'll come right by and by.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“WHERE 'S Polly?" asked Fan one snowy afternoon, as she came into the dining-room where Tom was reposing on the sofa with his boots in the air, absorbed in one of those delightful books in which boys are cast away on desert islands, where every known fruit, vegetable and flower is in its prime all the year round; or, lost in boundless forests, where the young heroes have thrilling adventures, kill impossible beasts, and, when the author's invention gives out, suddenly find their way home, laden with tiger skins, tame buffaloes and other pleasing trophies of their prowess.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

“Love scenes, if genuine, are indescribable; for to those who have enacted them, the most elaborate description seems tame, and to those who have not, the simplest picture seems overdone. So romancers had better let imagination paint for them that which is above all art, and leave their lovers to themselves during the happiest minutes of their lives.”
― Louisa May Alcott, quote from An Old-Fashioned Girl

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“Not much time will be gained, O Athenians, in return for the evil name which you will get from the detractors of the city, who will say that you killed Socrates, a wise man; for they will call me wise even although I am not wise when they want to reproach you. If you had waited a little while, your desire would have been fulfilled in the course of nature. For I am far advanced in years, as you may perceive, and not far from death. I am speaking now only to those of you who have condemned me to death. And I have another thing to say to them: You think that I was convicted through deficiency of words - I mean, that if I had thought fit to leave nothing undone, nothing unsaid, I might have gained an acquittal. Not so; the deficiency which led to my conviction was not of words - certainly not. But I had not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address you as you would have liked me to address you, weeping and wailing and lamenting, and saying and doing many things which you have been accustomed to hear from others, and which, as I say, are unworthy of me. But I thought that I ought not to do anything common or mean in the hour of danger: nor do I now repent of the manner of my defence, and I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live. For neither in war nor yet at law ought any man to use every way of escaping death. For often in battle there is no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he may escape death; and in other dangers there are other ways of escaping death, if a man is willing to say and do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death. I am old and move slowly, and the slower runner has overtaken me, and my accusers are keen and quick, and the faster runner, who is unrighteousness, has overtaken them. And now I depart hence condemned by you to suffer the penalty of death, and they, too, go their ways condemned by the truth to suffer the penalty of villainy and wrong; and I must abide by my award - let them abide by theirs. I suppose that these things may be regarded as fated, - and I think that they are well.”
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“It looked up at them with animal-like intelligence, arching its back as it prepared to leap. “A ghoul!” Sion shouted. The robed skeleton waved its hand, and the doors slammed shut with an ominous boom, locking them in. Then Richter heard something even more disturbing from his Companion. “Fuck my life!”
― Aleron Kong, quote from The Land: Founding

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