“Then it was that Jo, living in the darkened room, with that suffering little sister always before her eyes and that pathetic voice sounding in her ears, learned to see the beauty and the sweetness of Beth's nature, to feel how deep and tender a place she filled in all hearts, and to acknowledge the worth of Beth's unselfish ambition to live for others, and make home happy by that exercise of those simple virtues which all may possess, and which all should love and value more than talent, wealth, or beauty.”

American novelist, short story writer, and poet

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. Raised in New England by transcendentalist parents, she wrote in the 19th century and is best known for Little Women and its sequels. Her most familiar work is Little Women, first published in 1868, followed by Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo's Boys. She began writing young, encouraged by her family, and grew up among prominent intellectuals such as Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.