Quotes by Hans Christian Andersen

“Just living is not enough... One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”

“Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swans egg.”

“And the matches gave such a brilliant light that it was brighter than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both flew in brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety--they were with God.”

“Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with short steps.”

“`But the Emperor has nothing on at all! said a little child.”

“Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down upon her. The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them when--the match went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven . . .”

“I cannot bear it! said the pewter soldier. I have shed pewter tears! It is too melancholy! Rather let me go to the wars and lose arms and legs! It would at least be a change. I cannot bear it longer! Now, I know what it is to have a visit from ones old thoughts, with what they may bring with them! I have had a visit from mine, and you may be sure it is no pleasant thing in the end; I was at last about to jump down from the drawers.”

“Adolescence is the time in life when girls quit believing in fairy tales and start to believe in love.”

“Friends are flowers that never fade”

“The Ugly Duckling.”

“My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident.”

“why didnt they choose a Danish composer?”

“The Princess and the Pea.”

“You say you have thousands of my days; but I have thousands of moments, in which I can be merry and happy [the ephemera replying to the oak tree].”

“Its a kind of home for Hans Christian Andersen here in Moscow.”

“Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea.”

Just living is not enough, said the butterfly, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

To travel is to live.

To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,To gain all while you give,To roam the roads of lands remote,To travel is to live.

Enjoy life. Theres plenty of time to be dead.