Beth MarchIf God wants me with Him, there is none who will stop Him. I don't mind. I was never like the rest of you... making plans about the great things I'd do. I never saw myself as anything much. Not a great writer like you.
Beth MarchBut you will be. Oh, Jo, I've missed you so. Why does everyone want to go away? I love being home. But I don't like being left behind. Now I am the one going ahead. I am not afraid. I can be brave like you.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo MarchI find it poor logic to say that because women are good, women should vote. Men do not vote because they are good; they vote because they are male, and women should vote, not because we are angels and men are animals, but because we are human beings and citizens of this country.
Mr. MayerYou should have been a lawyer, Miss March.
Jo MarchI should have been a great many things, Mr. Mayer.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Beth MarchI know I shall be homesick for you even in Heaven.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Younger Amy MarchWe'll all grow up one day, Meg. We might as well know what we want.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Younger Amy MarchI don't want to die. I've never even been kissed. I've waited my whole to be kissed - and what if I miss it?
LaurieI tell you what. I promise to kiss you before you die.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Meg MarchI'll never have any suitors. I'll just be a dried-up old spinster.
Jo MarchYou don't need scores of suitors. You only need one, if he's the right one.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Mrs. MarchFeminine weaknesses and fainting spells are the direct result of our confining young girls to the house, bent over their needlework, and restrictive corsets.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Mrs. MarchOh, Jo. Jo, you have so many extraordinary gifts; how can you expect to lead an ordinary life? You're ready to go out and - and find a good use for your talent. Tho' I don't know what I shall do without my Jo. Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo MarchWell, of course Aunt March prefers Amy over me. Why shouldn't she? I'm ugly and awkward and I always say the wrong things. I fly around throwing away perfectly good marriage proposals. I love our home, but I'm just so fitful and I can't stand being here! I'm sorry, I'm sorry Marmee. There's just something really wrong with me. I want to change, but I - I can't. And I just know I'll never fit in anywhere.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
LaurieSomeday you'll find a man, a good man, and you'll love him, and marry him, and live and die for him. And I'll be hanged if I stand by and watch.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
John BrookeOver the mysteries of female life there is drawn a veil best left undisturbed.
Jo MarchThat's my sister. She's completely bald in front.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
John BrookeMr. Laurence! One doesn't shout at ladies as if they were cattle. My apologies!
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Friedrich BhaerYour heart understood mine. In the depth of the fragrant night, I listened with ravished soul to your beloved voice. Your heart understood mine.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Amy MarchDo you hear from Jo? She has befriended a German professor.
LaurieYes, well, no doubt he's showing her the ways of the world.
Amy MarchI do not wish to be courted by someone who is still in love with my sister!
LaurieI envy her happiness. I envy his happiness. I envy John Brooke for marrying Meg. I hate Fred Vaughn. And if Beth had a lover I would despise him too. Just as you have always known that you would never marry a pauper, I have always known I should be part of the March family.
Meg MarchOh, Marmee, I can't believe you did this four times.
John BrookeYes, but never two at once, my darling.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo March[as Jo and Laurie dance awkwardly at Belle Gardner's ball]I'm sorry! Meg always makes me take the gentleman's part at home! It's a shame you don't know the lady's part!
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Friedrich BhaerYou must write from life, from the depths of your soul!
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo MarchNow we are all family, as we always should have been.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Beth MarchI'm so full of happiness, that if Father was only here, I couldn't hold one drop more.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Mrs. March[Jo hands Marmee some money for her journey]Twenty-five! Can Aunt March spare this?
Jo MarchI couldn't bear to ask her. I sold my hair.
Jo MarchLate at night my mind would come alive with voices and stories and friends as dear to me as any in the real world. I gave myself up to it, longing for transformation.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Mrs. MarchI fear you would have a long engagement, three or four years. John must secure a house before you can marry and do his service to the union.
Jo MarchJohn? Marry? You mean that poky old Mr Brooke? How did he weasel his way into this family?
Mrs. MarchJo! Mr Brooke has been very kind to visit father in the hospital every day.
Jo MarchHe's dull as powder Meg, can't you at least marry someone amusing?
Meg MarchI'm fond of John, he's kind and serious and I'm not afraid of being poor.
Jo MarchMarmee, you can't just let her go and marry him.
Meg MarchI'd hardly just go and marry anyone.
Mrs. MarchI would rather Meg marry for love and be a poor man's wife than marry for riches and lose her self-respect.
LaurieIn token of my gratitude and as a means of promoting communication between adjoining nations, shouting from windows being forbidden, I shall provide a post office in our hedge, to further incourage the bearing of our souls and the telling of our most appalling secrets. I do pledge never to reveal what I recieve in confindence here.
Jo MarchIf lack of attention to personal finances is a mark of refinement, then I say the Marches must be the most elegant family in Concord!
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Younger Amy MarchButter! Oh! Oh, isn't butter divinity? Oh God, thank you for this breakfast.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Friedrich Bhaer[having read Jo's latest book]You should be writing from life, from the depths of your soul. There is *nothing* in here of the woman that I am privileged to know.
Jo MarchI go around throwing away perfectly good marriage proposals!
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Mrs. March[as revenge, Amy has burned a precious manuscript]It is a very great loss and you have every right to be put out. But don't let the sun go down on your anger. Forgive each other, begin again tomorrow.
Boston MatronDid you see the way that March girl has gone after the Laurence heir?
Boston MatronBest thing that could happen to the Marches.
Meg MarchThis ridiculous dress, I've been tripping over it all night.
LaurieTie something around your neck where it can do you some good.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
LaurieHello! Jo! Come over here. You too, Meg. It's dull as tombs around here.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo MarchTruly, I don't know if I could ever be good like Marmee. I rather crave violence. If only I could be like Father and go to war and stand up to the lions of injustice.
Younger Amy MarchAdvertisements. One periwinkle sash belonging to Mr. N. Winkle has been abscondated from the wash line... which gentlemen desires any reports leading to its recovery.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo MarchImagine, giving up Italy to come live with that awful old man.
Meg March[Meg tsks]Oh Jo, please don't say awful; it's slang.
Meg MarchIt's nice to be praised and admired. I couldn't help but like it.
Mrs. MarchOf course not. I only care what you think of yourself. If you feel your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that's all that you really are. Time erodes all such beauty. But what it cannot diminish is the wonderful workings of your mind. Your humor, your kindness, and your moral courage. These are the things I cherish so in you.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
LaurieDear Jo. I swear I'll be a saint. I'll let you win every argument. I'll take care of you and your family. I'll give you every luxury you've ever been denied. You won't have to write. Unless you want to. Grandfather wants me to learn the business in England. Can't you see us bashing around London?
Jo MarchLondon. Oh, Teddy, I'm not fashionable enough for London. You need someone who's elegant and refined.
Jo March[shocked at the decline of Beth's health]Marmee.
Mrs. MarchShe wouldn't let us send for you sooner. The doctor has been a number of times but it's beyond all of us and I think she's been waiting for you before she...
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Mrs. MarchCricket. Marmee's here. Icy cold. Jo, fetch a bowl with water, vinegar and some rags. Meg, my kit. We must draw the fever down from her head.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Mrs. March[reading a letter]"Aunt March is bedridden and would not survive a sea voyage. Amy must bide her time and return later".
Meg MarchWhy is it Laurie may do as he likes, and flirt and tipple champagne?
Mrs. MarchAnd no one thinks the less of him? Well, I suppose for one practical reason: Laurie is a man, and as such - he may vote, and hold property and pursue any profession he pleases. And so he is not so easily demeaned.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Meg MarchI was only playing a part - to see how it felt to be Belle Gardiner, with four proposals and 20 pairs of gloves.
Friedrich BhaerYou will be perfect. Where we are sitting, we shall not be so - formal.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo March[to Amy]You're weeks behind in algebra. Now, I want you to do all the pages that I've marked. I won't have a sister who's a lazy ignoramus. And don't sulk. You look like a pigeon.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Dr. BangsThere is nothing to be done. If I bleed her, it would finish her. Best send for the mother.
LaurieForgive me. I have already done so. Mrs. March arrives on the train this night.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Younger Amy MarchI can hardly hold my head up. I owe at least a dozen limes.
Younger Amy MarchOf course they are. It's nothing but limes now. Everyone keeps them in their desks, and trades them for beads and things. And all the girls treat each other at recess. If you don't bring limes to school, you're nothing. You might as well be dead. I've had ever so many limes, and I can't pay anyone back.
Jo MarchMy mother and father were part of a - rather unusual circle in Concord. Do you know the word transcendentalist?
Friedrich BhaerBut this is German Romantic philosophy! We throw off all our constraints and we come to know ourselves through insight and experience. But it got out of fashion now.
Jo MarchWell, not in the March family, I'm afraid. It's just that with all of this transcendence - comes much emphasis on perfecting oneself.
Friedrich BhaerIf only we could - transcend ourselves without perfection - like your poet Walt Whitman - who rides up and down the streets of Broadway all day shouting poetry against the roar of the carts. "Keep your silent woods, O, Nature..."
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Sally MoffatMarches haven't bought silk in years. They have views on slavery. Meg, isn't it true that your father's school had to close when he admitted a little dark girl?
Meg MarchI would dance with you, Mr. Parker, but I fear for my new slippers. My credo is, "Don't tread on me."
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Jo MarchYou mustn't be soppy about Laurie any more than you should be soppy... ... about those silly girls at school. I hope we shall be good friends with him.
Meg MarchOh, dear. Well, just keep your backside to the wall.
🧡
👏
🥺
🤔
🥱
Younger Amy MarchMeg and Jo, you have to tell me everything about Belle Gardiner. What her nose looks like and about her ring. Annie Gardiner says it's an emerald. Can you imagine? Everyone's lucky but me.