“I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.”

He was the first, the only love her life, and in a nature like hers such passions take deep root and die-hard.

Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow.

Where the heart is the mind works best.

In the books I read the sinners are always more interesting than the saints, and in real life good people are dismally dull. I’ve no desire to be wicked, but I do want to be happy. A short life and a gay one for me and I’m willing to pay for my pleasure if it is necessary.

I’d rather take coffee than compliments now.

Honesty is the best policy, in love as in law.

Don’t shut yourself up in a band box because you are a woman, but understand what is going on, and educate yourself to take part in the world’s work, for it all affects you and yours.

Love is a great beautifier.

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

There is very little real liberty in the world; even those who seem freest are often the most tightly bound. Law, custom, public opinion, fear or shame make slaves of us all, as you will find when you try your experiment.

Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.

Marriage, they say, halves one’s rights and doubles one’s duties.

My book came out; and people began to think that topsy-turvy Louisa would amount to something after all.

Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.

It takes so little to make a child happy, that it is a pity in a world full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts.

Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.

Don’t ignore the five senses in search of a sixth.

I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.

How could drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on.

The nearest to my heart are a king without a kingdom and a poor man who does not know how to beg.

The best things in life are free. The second best things are very, very expensive.

You are your own stories.

Ask advice of him who governs himself well.

Listen to many, speak to a few.