Fredrika Bremer Quotes

“If these slaves had only any future, anything to hope for, to strive for, to live for, any prospect before them, then i should non deplore their lot but nothing, nothing.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“Long life to Commerce! My soul expands at the sight of its life. What has not commerce done from the beginning of the world for the embellishment of life, for promoting the friendly intercourse of countries and people, for the refinement of manners! It has always given me delight, that the wisest and most humane of the lawgivers of antiquity - Solon - was a merchant.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“People seek for the spiritual champagne, but they mistake what it is ...”

— Fredrika Bremer

It is quite affecting to observe how much the olive tree is to the country people. Its fruit supplies them with food, medicine and light; its leaves, winter fodder for the goats and sheep; it is their shelter from the heat and its branches and roots supply them with firewood. The olive tree is the peasant's all-in-all.

— Fredrika Bremer

“A fly is a very light burden; but if it were perpetually to return and settle on one's nose, it might weary us of our very lives.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“There are words which sever hearts more than sharp swords; there are words the point of which sting the heart through the course of a whole life.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“If you will learn the seriousness of life, and its beauty also, live for your husband; make him happy.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“North America is not altogether to blame with regard to her Indians. If the Indian had been more susceptible to higher culture, violence and arms would not have been used against him, as is now the case.”

— Fredrika Bremer

What a glorious new Scandinavia might not Minnesota become! Here the Swede would find again his clear, romantic lakes, the plains of Scane rich in corn, and the valleys of Norrland; here the Norwegian would find his rapid rivers ... The climate, the situation, the character of the scenery agrees with our people better than that of any other American States ...

— Fredrika Bremer

Gentle feelings produce profoundly beneficial effects upon stern natures. It is the spring rain which melts the ice-covering of the earth, and causes it to open to the beams of heaven.

— Fredrika Bremer

I have never as yet gone a step to see a literary lion; but I would go a considerable way to see Emerson, this pioneer in the moral forests of the New World, who applies his axe to the roots of the old trees to hew them down and to open the paths for new planting.

— Fredrika Bremer

“At a certain depth all bosoms communicate, all hearts are one.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“Ah! the curse of slavery, as the common phrase goes, has fallen not merely on the black but perhaps at this moment still more upon the white, because it has warped his sense of truth and has degraded his moral nature. The position and the treatment of the blacks, however, really improve from year to year; while the whites do not seem to advance in enlightenment.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“The humble soul is like the violet, which grows low, hangs the head downward, and hides itself with its own leaves.”

— Fredrika Bremer

For the first time I tasted this tropical fruit, which people here are so fond of ... I could have fancied I was biting into soap. I have a notion that we shall not become very good friends, the banana and I.

— Fredrika Bremer

“I have not, in general, much belief in the ability of woman as a creative artist. Unwritten lyrics, as [Ralph Waldo] Emerson said once when we conversed on this subject, should be her forte.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“Serenity of manners is the zenith of beauty.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“When the first time of love is over, there comes a something better still. Then comes that other love; that faithful friendship which never changes, and which will accompany you with its calm light through the whole of life. It is only needful to place yourself so that if it may come, and then it comes of itself. And then everything turns and changes itself to the best.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“The human heart is like heaven; the more angels the more room.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“Who has not experienced how, on near acquaintance, plainness becomes beautified, and beauty loses its charm, exactly according to the quality of the heart and mind? And from this cause am I of opinion that the want of outward beauty never disquiets a noble nature or will be regarded as a misfortune. It never can prevent people from being amiable and beloved in the highest degree.”

— Fredrika Bremer

“These Americans believe that everything is possible ...”

— Fredrika Bremer