“If people really want to go, and really try all their lives, I think they will get in; for I don’t believe there are any locks on that door, or any guards at the gate.”

— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868), Ch. 13 : Castles In The Air

About Louisa May Alcott

1832 – 1888

American novelist, author of "Little Women".

“Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”

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

“I can't give her money, but I can teach her; so I do, and she is the most promising pupil I have.”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”

“The young have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations.”

“We live in a country where the people own the Government and not in a country where the Government owns the people.”

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

“There is nothing to life that has value, except the degree of power—assuming that life itself is the will to power.”