HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN QUOTES
Danish author (1805-1875)
We cannot expect to be happy always ... by experiencing evil as well as good we become wise.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Flax"
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Butterfly"
Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
A Visit to Funen with Hans Christian Andersen
The whole world is a series of miracles ... but we're so used to them we call them ordinary things.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
Hans Christian Andersen's Shorter Tales
You are a dreamer, and that is your misfortune.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"Psyche"
Madame Politics is like Venus: they whom she decoys into her castle perish.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The Story of My Life
Every town, like every man, has its own countenance; they have a common likeness and yet are different; one keeps in his mind all their peculiar touches.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON
The Story of My Life
Each time I think that the song is ended ... something higher and better begins for me.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Flax"
Death continued to stare at the emperor with his cold, hollow eyes, and the room was fearfully still. Suddenly there came through the open window the sound of sweet music. Outside, on the bough of a tree, sat the living nightingale. She had heard of the emperor's illness, and was therefore come to sing to him of hope and trust. And as she sung, the shadows grew paler and paler; the blood in the emperor's veins flowed more rapidly, and gave life to his weak limbs; and even Death himself listened, and said, "Go on, little nightingale, go on."
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Nightingale"
No, the light is too intense; we do not yet have eyes that can see all the glory God has created. But maybe someday we will have such eyes. That will be the most wonderful fairy tale of all, for we ourselves will be part of it.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Toad"
There was once a merchant who was so rich that he might have paved the whole street, and a little alley besides, with silver money. But he didn't do it--he knew better how to use his money than that.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Flying Trunk"
Happy domestic life is like a beautiful summer's evening; the heart is filled with peace; and everything around derives a peculiar glory.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The True Story of My Life
Death walks faster than the wind and never returns what he has taken.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Story of a Mother"
Often I ask, deeply moved in my heart, Why does God grant me so much happiness. Where everything is given one, one cannot be proud, one bows one's head in humility.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
A Visit to Funen with Hans Christian Andersen
Every time a good child dies, an angel of God comes down to earth. He takes the child in his arms, spreads out his great white wings, and flies with it all over the places the child loved on earth. The angel plucks a large handful of flowers, and they carry it with them up to God, where the flowers bloom more brightly than they ever did on earth.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Angel"
To travel is to live.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The Fairy Tale of My Life
Where words fail, music speaks.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Writing on the Wall"
A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Little Mermaid"
Mermaids have no tears, and so they suffer all the more.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Little Mermaid"
Each soldier was the living image of the others, but there was one who was a bit different. He had only one leg, for he was the last to be cast and the tin had run out. Still, there he stood, just as steadfast on his one leg as the others on their two.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Steadfast Tin Soldier"