What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?

— Louisa May Alcott

What shall you do all your vacation?’, asked Amy. "I shall lie abed and do nothing", replied Meg.

— Louisa May Alcott

…what splendid dreams young people build upon a word, and how bitter is the pain when the bright bubbles burst.

— Louisa May Alcott

Who are your heroes?" asked Jo." Grandfather and Napoleon.

— Louisa May Alcott

Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.

— Louisa May Alcott

…wisely mingled poetry and prose.

— Louisa May Alcott

Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.

— Louisa May Alcott

Women work a good many miracles and I have a persuasion that they may preform even that of raising the standard of manhood by refusing to echo such sayings. Let the boys be boys the longer, the better and let the young men sew their wild oats if they must, but mothers, sisters and friends may help to make the crop a small one and keep many tares from spoiling the harvest by believing and showing that they believe in the possibility of loyalty to the virtues which make men manliest in good women's eyes.

— Louisa May Alcott

Yes, Phoebe was herself now, and it showed in the change that came over her at the first note of music. No longer shy and silent, no longer the image of a handsome girl, but a blooming woman, alive and full of the eloquence her art gave her, as she laid her hands softly together, fixed her eye on the light, and just poured out her song as simply and joyfully as the lark does soar toward the sun. "My faith, Alec! That's the sort of voice that wins a man's heart out of his breast!" exclaimed Uncle Mac, wiping his eyes after one of the plaintive ballads that never grow old. "So it would!" answered Dr. Alec, delightedly. "So it has," added Archie to himself; and he was right: for just at that moment he fell in love with Phoebe. He actually did, and could fix the time almost to a second: for at a quarter past nine, he thought merely thought her a very charming young person; at twenty minutes past, he considered her the loveliest woman he ever beheld; at five and twenty minutes past, she was an angel singing his soul away; and at half after nine he was a lost man, floating over a delicious sea to that temporary heaven on earth where lovers usually land after the first rapturous plunge. If anyone had mentioned this astonishing fact, nobody would have believed it; nevertheless, it was quite true: and sober, business-like Archie suddenly discovered a fund of romance at the bottom of his hitherto well-conducted heart that amazed him. He was not quite clear what had happened to him at first, and sat about in a dazed sort of way; seeing, hearing, knowing nothing but Phoebe: while the unconscious idol found something wanting in the cordial praise so modestly received, because Mr. Archie never said a word.

— Louisa May Alcott

Yet that is considered an excellent school, and I dare say it would be if the benighted lady did not think it's necessary to cram her pupils like Thanksgiving turkeys, instead of feeding them in a natural and wholesome way. It is the fault with most American schools, and the poor little heads will go on aching till we learn better.

— Louisa May Alcott