Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 children’s classic novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The book is set in the 19th century and explores the life of an 11-year-old orphan named Anne Shirley.
The young girl is sent to two middle-aged siblings in the fictional town of Avonlea. They originally wanted to adopt a boy to help them with farm chores. Anne of Green Gables recounts Anne’s journey as she navigates life with her adoptive family, school, and the town of Avonlea.
The classic novel has been translated into at least 36 different languages and has sold more than 50 million copies. It has also been adapted for films, TV shows, and animated series. Here are the most interesting Anne of Green Gables quotes.
Best Anne of Green Gables Quotes
1. “It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
2. “People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
3. “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
4. “Look at that sea, girls — all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness anymore if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
5. “Anne has as many shades as a rainbow, and every shade is the prettiest while it lasts.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
6. “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
7. “‘Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,’ she whispered as he lifted her to the ground. ‘What nice dreams they must have!’” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
8. “Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
9. “I love a book that makes me cry.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
10. “All things great are wound up with all things little.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
11. “That’s the worst of growing up, and I’m beginning to realize it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don’t seem half so wonderful to you when you get them.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
12. “Oh, it’s delightful to have ambitions. I’m so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them — that’s the best of it. Just as soon as you attain one ambition, you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
13. “Which would you rather be if you had the choice: divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
14. “True friends are always together in spirit.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
15. “We pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety, and discouragement.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
16. “‘Dear old world’, she murmured, ‘You are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.’” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
17. “I don’t know; I don’t want to talk as much — it’s nicer to think dear, pretty thoughts and keep them in one’s heart, like treasures. I don’t like to have them laughed at or wondered over.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
18. “I had made up my mind that if you didn’t come for me tonight, I’d go down the track to that big wild cherry tree at the bend and climb up into it to stay all night. I wouldn’t be a bit afraid, and it would be lovely to sleep in a wild cherry tree all white with bloom in the moonshine, don’t you think? You could imagine you were dwelling in marble halls, couldn’t you?” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
19. “The world looks like something God had just imaged for his own pleasure, doesn’t it?” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
20. “Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it… yet.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
21. “She makes me love her, and I like people who make me love them. It saves me so much trouble making myself love them.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
22. “Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray, I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods, and I’d look up into the sky —up, up, up — into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I’d just feel a prayer.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
23. “It’s all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it’s not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
24. “Don’t you just love poetry that gives you a crinkly feeling up and down your back?” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
25. “If you can’t be cheerful, be as cheerful as you can.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
26. “It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
27. “The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and storytellers, but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
28. “Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
29. “I’m not a bit changed — not really. I’m only just pruned down and branched out. The real me — back here — is just the same. It won’t make a bit of difference where I go or how much I change outwardly; at heart, I shall always be your little Anne, who will love you and Matthew and dear Green Gables more and better every day of her life.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Heritage Minutes: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery battled depression, rejection, and sexism to become known worldwide for Anne of Green Gables and 19 other novels. This Heritage Minute tells her story in her own words, as drawn from her journals.
Summary
Anne of Green Gables is a story of optimism and observation through the eyes of an 11-year-old. The book has been inspiring people for generations and continues to invoke hope in people who face frightening situations in life. If you need a pick-me-up to get through a tough day, read these Anne of Green Gables quotes.
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“Anne of Green Gables” by Tundra Books is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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