6 Insightful Quotes from “Little Women”
Little Women (written by Louisa May Alcott) is doused with morals and lessons for young and old throughout all its 47 chapters. These come to life through the stories told about the four title sisters, and their ups and downs and troubles and triumphs. Here are some of my favorite ones.
This article contains no spoilers. Only broad strokes are given of certain events.
Our burdens are here, our road is before us, and the longing for goodness and happiness is the guide that leads us through many troubles and mistakes to […] peace.
As the four sisters decide to undertake their journeys toward betterhood, they discuss their personal burdens with one another. These are their most significant flaws, which they will have to work through on their road to true goodness and achievement. As the years pass, the sisters undergo personal troubles and make mistakes, but eventually, they notice that their burdens become lighter with each deliberate step forward that they take.
All of us have goals, and all of us have flaws. It is impossible to live a life free of troubles and mistakes, but it is entirely possible to reach a better place if you constantly and consistently work your way forward. Your flaws may be heavy, and your goals may be far away, but together they guide you toward the steps you need to take to achieve betterment.
[They] made very excellent resolutions, but they did not keep them very well, and were constantly saying, ‘If we only had this’ or ‘if we could only do that,’ quite forgetting how much they already had, and how many pleasant things they actually could do.
Despite a strong wish to improve, the sisters feel that their burdens are too heavy to carry along on their roads. In their eyes, their success depends on certain resources they don’t have, like money and status. At first, they deny themselves progress in their journeys as they increase the weight of their burdens rather than proceeding with the opportunities, choices, and privileges they already have.
You make the most of what you have. That is the key to a better life. Working on your flaws (which is a must on your path to betterment) requires consistency and perseverance; and you grow to create better circumstances for yourself when you take active steps to shape your life with the limited means that you possess.
There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.
In the beginning, one of the sisters is rather selfish. She enjoys flaunting her virtues and skills in an attempt to garner positive social attention. As she comes to learn throughout, virtue is something to be practiced with authenticity and care, which then rarely goes unnoticed for long.
We all have the ability to be kind, or charitable, or loyal — and we all possess certain noteworthy skills. However, like how “all things are best in moderation”, modesty is the most fitting conduit for talent and goodness. There is no need to flaunt what is clearly proven in action.
[It] was an easier thing to do a friendly thing than it was to stay and be thanked for it.
When she has the opportunity to be selfish, she chooses to be kind. When she has the chance to be resentful, she chooses to be generous. When she stands to gain the praise she so desires, she chooses to walk away, more fulfilled from the action itself than she would have been from its rewards.
Goodness is shown through actions that have positive outcomes. But these actions are even more precious when they are rooted in positive intentions. Virtue is good because it is, inherently, good — therefore, doing good things because they are right is more virtuous than doing good things because of ulterior motives.
If something very pleasant should happen now, we should think it a delightful month.
One day, the girls complain about about the dullness and dreariness of November month. At this point, their gentlest sister, who tends to take “a hopeful view of everything”, proclaims that should something happen to make it more suitable to them, their perspectives on November might very well change. To her, their opinions — and, thus, their moods — are subject to the very things they cannot control.
Everything is perspective. By focusing on the negative aspects of your circumstances, you fail to bring their positive sides to life. It is through the constant effort of creating good things from what seems to be a bad basis, that an ugly or uneventful present becomes a beautiful and happy future.
[Hearts], like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally.
On their journey to the coast, one sister tells another that she has a secret. Although the older sister is curious, she waits patiently for her little sister to confess this truth on her own time. She knows that despite the help she might offer, and the benefits there are of a sooner confession, she cannot force her sister to tell her about the thing that weighs so heavily on her heart.
In all relationships, we depend on one another for company and support. However, this requires mutual trust and patience. In the same way that a flower opens only once the earth and weather feel ready, a heart will only spill its secrets when these tenets are in place.
Like a good story, it reveals its deepest contents only once it has been opened with care.
