50+ Anne Of Green Gables Quotes As Plucky As The Red-Haired Heroine

If there ever was a literary character who most people would love to have as a bosom buddy, it would be Anne Shirley. Anne, of course, is the intrepid red-haired heroine of the literary classic Anne of Green Gables. Anne's eternal optimism and wise-beyond-her-years observations (along with her penchant for the dramatic) have inspired readers for generations. Whenever the world seems frightening and unloving, reading the hopeful and promising prose of author L.M. Montgomery's words over and over again is pretty much a standard for book lovers. It's no wonder Anne of Green Gables quotes work their way into everything from family Instagram captions to messages inscribed in birthday cards.

Its popularity and inherent charm have extended beyond the pages and onto the screen, too. In addition to being adapted into a beloved '80s TV movie, Anne's story most recently became a Netflix series called Anne With an E — the latter of which The Atlantic called "the best kind of adaptation."

If you need a little pick-me-up during the day or ever wonder WWAS ("What Would Anne Say") in a given situation, you'll love our collection of quotes from the book and screen productions. After all, we could all use a little more Anne Shirley in our lives. Read these to your kid, and before you know it, they'll be begging you to read "one more" chapter of Montgomery's iconic coming-of-age tale each night before bed.

Anne Shirley Quotes By L.M. Montgomery

1. “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?”
2. “It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
3. “I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
4. “My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.”
5. “‘Dear old world', she murmured, 'You are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.’”
6. “Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile.”
7. “Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it… yet.”
8. “I love a book that makes me cry.”
9. "She makes me love her, and I like people who make me love them. It saves me so much trouble making myself love them.”
10. “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?”
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.”
12. "It almost seemed to her that those secret, unuttered, critical thoughts had suddenly taken visible and accusing shape and form in the person of this outspoken morsel of neglected humanity."
13. “Anne has as many shades as a rainbow, and every shade is the prettiest while it lasts."
14. "All things great are wound up with all things little.”
15. “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.”
16. “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.”
17. “True friends are always together in spirit.”
18. “The world looks like something God had just imaged for his own pleasure, doesn't it?”
19. “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.”
20. "Look at that sea, girls — all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”
21. “‘Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,’ she whispered, as he lifted her to the ground. ‘What nice dreams they must have!’”
22. “Don’t you just love poetry that gives you a crinkly feeling up and down your back?”
23. “We ought always to try to influence others for good.”
24. “If you can't be cheerful, be as cheerful as you can.”
25. “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.”
26. “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.”
27. “It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable.”
28. “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.”
29. “Which would you rather be if you had the choice: divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?”
30. “Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it."
31. “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?”
32. “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.”

Quotes From Anne With an E

1. “I’m loved now, but when I wasn’t, it didn’t mean I wasn’t worthy of it.” — Anne Shirley
2. “A morning can start off like any other, but by nightfall... things have occurred that could change a course forever.” — Diana Barry
3. “Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.” — Anne Shirley
4. “You can’t know joy unless you’ve known sorrow. Those of us who can soar to the highest heights can also plunge to the deepest depths.” — Miss Stacy
5. “It’s not what the world holds for you, it’s what you bring to it.” — Anne Shirley
6. “You have a life of such joy before you. Not without hardship. Not without bumps in the road. Be safe with those you trust. But when you do find people to trust, the bond will be that much greater.” — Aunt Josephine
7. “I think broken things have such a sad beauty.” — Anne Shirley
8. “It’s a powerful thing to have done someone wrong when you truly didn’t intend it.” — Marilla Cuthbert
9. “Nightmares aren’t so scary without the protection of the dark.” — Anne Shirley
10. “Love is not quantifiable, and therefore not finite.” — Miss Stacy
11. “Sometimes life hides gifts in the darkest of places.” — Anne Shirley
12. “The best part of knowing the rules is finding acceptable ways of breaking them.” — Winifred Rose
13. “I reckon every new idea was modern once, until it wasn’t.” — Matthew Cuthbert
14. “Dreamers change the world.” — Anne Shirley
15. “Oh, to say the least, it’s complicated. And if a mind’s abuzz with pressure and deadlines and ‘what if this and that,’ I imagine love’s truth would be a near-impossible thing to feel. I wonder if, when all’s quiet in your mind, you’ll find your answer.” — Aunt Josephine
16. “I’m unusual, and I embrace it.” — Anne Shirley
17. “Sound journalism must defend the voiceless, not send them further into silence.” — Miss Stacy
18. “It’s a perfect day for a tragical romance!” — Anne Shirley
19. “You know, it seems to be you should decide for yourself what you want to do, and be, and set your mind to it. You’ve got a good and nimble mind, Anne, I don’t see why you should limit it. In my day, we didn’t get to choose. I think you should make your own decision.” — Marilla Cuthbert
20. “Life had so many colors through her eyes. It painted my world forever.” — Anne Shirley