“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.”
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Author detail
Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth, and May, were educated by their father, philosopher and teacher Bronson Alcott, and raised on the practical Christianity of their mother, Abigail May. Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, where her days were enlightened by visits to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s library, excursions into nature with Henry David Thoreau, and theatricals in the barn at "Hillside". Like her character, "Jo March" in Little Women, young Louisa was a tomboy. "No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race," she claimed, "and no girl if she refused to climb trees, leap fences ..." For Louisa, writing was an early passion. She had a rich imagination and often her stories became melodramas that she and her sisters would act out for friends. Louisa preferred to play the "lurid" parts in these plays --"the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens." At age 15, troubled by the poverty that plagued her family, she vowed: "I will do something by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write -- anything to help the family; and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t!"
Quotes
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“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.”
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“I like good strong words that mean something…”
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
“Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.”
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“Debate is masculine; conversation is feminine.”
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“"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.”
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“I want to be great, or nothing. I won't be a commonplace dauber, so I don't intend to try any more.”
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“Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I many not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”
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“Love is the only thing we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”
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“Love is a great beautifier.”
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“Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors!”
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“Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”
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“I'm not afraid of storms for I'm learning how to sail my ship.”
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“She was one of those happily created beings who please without effort, make friends everywhere, and take life so gracefully and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted to believe that s...”
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“A little kingdom I possess, Where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find Of governing it well.”
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“Fame is a pearl many dive for and only a few bring up. Even when they do, it is not perfect, and they sigh for more, and lose better things in struggling for them.”
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“The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.”
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“Love Jo all your days, if you choose, but don't let it spoil you, for it's wicked to throw away so many good gifts because you can't have the one you want.”
“Be worthy love, and love will come.”
“You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one.”