Hans Christian Andersen Quotes Page 2

“At first she was overjoyed that he would be with her, but then she recalled that human people could not live under the water, and he could only visit her father's palace as a dead man.”

“Each of the sisters took delight in the lovely new sights when she first rose up to the surface of the sea.

But when they became grown-up girls, who were allowed to go wherever they liked, they became indifferent to it.”

“Her grandmother had to call the little birds 'fish', or the princess would not have known what she was talking about, for she had never seen a bird.”

“I know what you want. It is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and it will bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess.”

“It was the last night that she would breathe the same air as he, or look out over the deep sea and up into the star-blue heaven.

A dreamless, eternal night awaited her, for she had no soul and had not been able to win one.”

“Mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer more.”

“Never had she danced so beautifully; the sharp knives cut her feet, but she did not feel it, for the pain in her heart was far greater.”

“Sharp knives seemed to cut her delicate feet, yet she hardly felt them, so deep was the pain in her heart. She could not forget that this was the last night she would ever see the one for whom she had left her home and family, had given up her beautiful voice, and had day by day endured unending torment, of which he knew nothing at all. An eternal night awaited her. ”

“She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart.”

“The little mermaid kissed his hand and felt that her heart was beginning to break. For the morning after his wedding day would see her dead and turned to watery foam.”

“The mermaid kissed his high and shapely forehead. As she stroked his wet hair in place, it seemed to her that he looked like that marble statue in her little garden.

She kissed him again and hoped that he would live.”

“The very thing that is your greatest beauty here in the sea - your fish tail - would be considered ugly on land.

They have such poor taste that to be thought beautiful there you have to have two awkward props which they call legs.”

“Then your tail will divide and shrink until it becomes what the people on earth call a pair of shapely legs. But it will hurt; it will feel as if a sharp sword slashed through you.

Everyone who sees you will say that you are the most graceful human being they have ever laid eyes on, for you will keep your gliding movement and no dancer will be able to tread as lightly as you.

But every step you take will feel as if you were treading upon knife blades so sharp that blood must flow. I am willing to help you, but are you willing to suffer all this?

Yes, the little mermaid said in a trembling voice, as she thought of the Prince and of gaining a human soul.”

“We are like the green seaweed - once cut down, it never grows again.

Human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which lives forever, long after their bodies have turned to clay.”

“We have no immortal souls; we have no future life; we are just like the green sea-weed, which, once cut down, can never revive again!

Men, on the other hand, have a soul which lives for ever, lives after the body has become dust; it rises through the clear air, up to the shining stars!”

“They could see she was a real Princess and no question about it, now that she had felt one pea all the way through twenty mattresses and twenty more feather beds. Nobody but a Princess could be so delicate.”

“And they both sat there, grown up, yet children at heart; and it was summer – warm, beautiful summer.”

“I can give her no greater power than she has already, said the woman; don't you see how strong that is? How men and animals are obliged to serve her, and how well she has got through the world, barefooted as she is. She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has, which consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot herself obtain access to the Snow Queen, and remove the glass fragments from little Kay, we can do nothing to help her.”

“When we get to the end of the story, you will know more than you do now...”

“You’re a fine one for tramping around, the bandit girl said to Kai. I’d like to know – do you really deserve to have someone run to the end of the world just for your sake?”

“Brave soldier, never fear.
Even though your death is near.”

“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; and he is the tin soldier we are going to hear about.”

“Death walks faster than the wind and never returns what he has taken.”

“Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to orange and gold. Then, as winter approached, the wind caught them as they fell”

“He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him.”

“His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.”

“I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling.”

“It doesn't matter if you're born in a duck yard, so long as you are hatched from a swan's egg!”

“It is only with the heart that one can see clearly, for the most essential things are invisible to the eye.”

“Some are created for beauty, and some for use; and there are some which one can do without altogether.”