Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.
Louisa May AlcottRead
I'm perfectly miserable; but if you consider me presentable, I die happy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The speaker feels unhappy but values being accepted by others above their own misery.
In this quote, Louisa May Alcott expresses a deep contrast between personal feelings of misery and the desire for external validation. Despite feeling 'perfectly miserable', the speaker finds solace in the acceptance and approval of others, suggesting that social acceptance can sometimes provide a sense of fulfillment that overshadows personal unhappiness.
Themes
MiseryHappinessAcceptanceValidationSelf-Esteem
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a speech about the importance of social acceptance and its impact on personal happiness.
More from Louisa May Alcott
All quotes βYou have grown abominably lazy, and you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly people, instead of being loved and respected by wise ones.
Louisa May AlcottRead
"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.
Louisa May AlcottRead
... swept into the giddy vortex which keeps so many young people revolving aimlessly, till they go down or are cast upon the shore, wrecks of what they might have been
Louisa May AlcottRead
Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.
Louisa May AlcottRead
It takes two flints to make a fire.
Louisa May AlcottRead
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For, if we take an examination of what is generally understood by happiness, as it has respect either to the understanding or the senses, we shall find all its properties and adjuncts will herd under this short definition: that it is a perpetual possession of being well deceived.
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