A government for protecting business and bread only is but a carcase, and soon falls by its own corruption to decay. ~A. B. Alcott
A sip is the most that mortals are permitted from any goblet of delight. ~A. B. Alcott
A work of real merit finds favour at last. ~A. B. Alcott
Character is a fact, and that is much in a world of pretence and concession. ~A. B. Alcott
Civilisation degrades the many to exalt the few. ~A. B. Alcott
Conversation is an abandonment to ideas, a surrender to persons. ~A. B. Alcott
Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine; the former angular, the latter circular and radiant of the underlying unity. ~A. B. Alcott
Divination seems heightened to its highest power in woman. ~A. B. Alcott
Education may work wonders as well in warping the genius of individuals as in seconding it. ~A. B. Alcott
Egotists cannot converse; they talk to themselves only. ~A. B. Alcott
Enthusiasm imparts itself magnetically, and fuses all into one happy and harmonious unity of feeling and sentiment. ~A. B. Alcott
Every man is his own greatest dupe. ~A. B. Alcott
Experience converts us to ourselves when books fail us. ~A. B. Alcott
Fine manners are the mantle of fair minds. None are truly great without this ornament. ~A. B. Alcott
Friends are the leaders of the bosom, being more ourselves than we are, and we complement our affections in theirs. ~A. B. Alcott
Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen, the more select the more enjoyable. ~A. B. Alcott
Good discourse sinks differences and seeks agreements. ~A. B. Alcott
Health, longevity, beauty are other names for personal purity, and temperance is the regimen for all. ~A. B. Alcott
Heaven trims our lamps while we sleep. ~A. B. Alcott
If the ancients left us ideas, to our credit be it spoken, we moderns are building houses for them. ~A. B. Alcott
In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions. ~A. B. Alcott
Inspiration must find answering inspiration. ~A. B. Alcott
It is easier to carry the world in one’s thoughts than on one’s shoulders. ~A. B. Alcott
It needs a man to perceive a man. ~A. B. Alcott
Life is too much for most. So much of age, so little of youth; living, for the most part, in the moment, and dating existence by the memory of its burdens. ~A. B. Alcott
Manners carry the world for the moment, character for all time. ~A. B. Alcott
Many can argue, not many converse. ~A. B. Alcott
Observation more than books, experience rather than persons, are the prime educators. ~A. B. Alcott
One must have lived greatly whose record would bear the full light of day from its beginning to its close. ~A. B. Alcott
One’s piety is best displayed in his pursuits. ~A. B. Alcott
Our dreams drench us in sense, and sense steeps us again in dreams. ~A. B. Alcott
Our ideals are our better selves. ~A. B. Alcott
Our notion of the perfect society embraces the family as its centre and ornament. Nor is there a paradise planted till the children appear in the foreground to animate and complete the picture. ~A. B. Alcott
Success is sweet; the sweeter if long delayed, and attained through manifold struggles and defeats. ~A. B. Alcott
Sympathy wanting, all is wanting; its personal magnetism is the conductor of the sacred spark that lights our atoms, puts us in human communion, and gives us to company, conversation, and ourselves. ~A. B. Alcott
The less routine the more of life. ~A. B. Alcott
The richest minds need not large libraries. ~A. B. Alcott
The surest sign of age is loneliness. ~A. B. Alcott
There are truths that shield themselves behind veils, and are best spoken by implication. Even the sun veils himself in his own rays to blind the gaze of the too curious starer. ~A. B. Alcott
Thought means life, since those who do not think do not live in any high or real sense. Thinking makes the man. ~A. B. Alcott
We mount to heaven mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures were successes. ~A. B. Alcott
Where there is a mother in the home, matters speed well. ~A. B. Alcott
Who knows the mind has the key to all things else. ~A. B. Alcott
Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in man, and finds the readiest response. ~A. B. Alcott
With temperance, health, cheerfulness, friends, a chosen task, one pays the cheapest fees for living, and may well dispense with other physicians. ~A. B. Alcott
A sip is the most that mortals are permitted from any goblet of delight. ~A. B. Alcott
A work of real merit finds favour at last. ~A. B. Alcott
Character is a fact, and that is much in a world of pretence and concession. ~A. B. Alcott
Civilisation degrades the many to exalt the few. ~A. B. Alcott
Conversation is an abandonment to ideas, a surrender to persons. ~A. B. Alcott
Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine; the former angular, the latter circular and radiant of the underlying unity. ~A. B. Alcott
Divination seems heightened to its highest power in woman. ~A. B. Alcott
Education may work wonders as well in warping the genius of individuals as in seconding it. ~A. B. Alcott
Egotists cannot converse; they talk to themselves only. ~A. B. Alcott
Enthusiasm imparts itself magnetically, and fuses all into one happy and harmonious unity of feeling and sentiment. ~A. B. Alcott
Every man is his own greatest dupe. ~A. B. Alcott
Experience converts us to ourselves when books fail us. ~A. B. Alcott
Fine manners are the mantle of fair minds. None are truly great without this ornament. ~A. B. Alcott
Friends are the leaders of the bosom, being more ourselves than we are, and we complement our affections in theirs. ~A. B. Alcott
Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen, the more select the more enjoyable. ~A. B. Alcott
Good discourse sinks differences and seeks agreements. ~A. B. Alcott
Health, longevity, beauty are other names for personal purity, and temperance is the regimen for all. ~A. B. Alcott
Heaven trims our lamps while we sleep. ~A. B. Alcott
If the ancients left us ideas, to our credit be it spoken, we moderns are building houses for them. ~A. B. Alcott
In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions. ~A. B. Alcott
Inspiration must find answering inspiration. ~A. B. Alcott
It is easier to carry the world in one’s thoughts than on one’s shoulders. ~A. B. Alcott
It needs a man to perceive a man. ~A. B. Alcott
Life is too much for most. So much of age, so little of youth; living, for the most part, in the moment, and dating existence by the memory of its burdens. ~A. B. Alcott
Manners carry the world for the moment, character for all time. ~A. B. Alcott
Many can argue, not many converse. ~A. B. Alcott
Observation more than books, experience rather than persons, are the prime educators. ~A. B. Alcott
One must have lived greatly whose record would bear the full light of day from its beginning to its close. ~A. B. Alcott
One’s piety is best displayed in his pursuits. ~A. B. Alcott
Our dreams drench us in sense, and sense steeps us again in dreams. ~A. B. Alcott
Our ideals are our better selves. ~A. B. Alcott
Our notion of the perfect society embraces the family as its centre and ornament. Nor is there a paradise planted till the children appear in the foreground to animate and complete the picture. ~A. B. Alcott
Success is sweet; the sweeter if long delayed, and attained through manifold struggles and defeats. ~A. B. Alcott
Sympathy wanting, all is wanting; its personal magnetism is the conductor of the sacred spark that lights our atoms, puts us in human communion, and gives us to company, conversation, and ourselves. ~A. B. Alcott
The less routine the more of life. ~A. B. Alcott
The richest minds need not large libraries. ~A. B. Alcott
The surest sign of age is loneliness. ~A. B. Alcott
There are truths that shield themselves behind veils, and are best spoken by implication. Even the sun veils himself in his own rays to blind the gaze of the too curious starer. ~A. B. Alcott
Thought means life, since those who do not think do not live in any high or real sense. Thinking makes the man. ~A. B. Alcott
We mount to heaven mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures were successes. ~A. B. Alcott
Where there is a mother in the home, matters speed well. ~A. B. Alcott
Who knows the mind has the key to all things else. ~A. B. Alcott
Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in man, and finds the readiest response. ~A. B. Alcott
With temperance, health, cheerfulness, friends, a chosen task, one pays the cheapest fees for living, and may well dispense with other physicians. ~A. B. Alcott