Hans Christian Andersen Quotes & Sayings

Delayed is not forgotten! — Hans Christian Andersen

And the Top spoke no more of his old love; for that dies away when the beloved objects has lain for five years in a roof gutter and got wet through; yes, one does not know her again when one meets her in the dust box. — Hans Christian Andersen

He looked at the little maiden, and she looked at him; and he felt that he was melting away, but he still managed to keep himself erect, shouldering his gun bravely.
A door was suddenly opened, the draught caught the little dancer and she fluttered like a sylph, straight into the fire, to the soldier, blazed up and was gone!
By this time the soldier was reduced to a mere lump, and when the maid took away the ashes next morning she found him, in the shape of a small tin heart. All that was left of the dancer was her spangle, and that was burnt as black as a coal. — Hans Christian Andersen

Life is a faerytale written by God's hand. — Hans Christian Andersen

Early in the morning, a peasant, who was passing by, saw what had happened. He broke the ice in pieces with his wooden shoe, and carried the duckling home to his wife. The warmth revived the poor — Hans Christian Andersen

A well-bred duckling spreads his feet wide apart, just like his father and mother, in this way. Now bend your neck, and say 'quack.'" The — Hans Christian Andersen

But if the star should set, even while I am penning these lines, be it so; still I can say it has shone, and I have received a rich portion. — Hans Christian Andersen

Every man's life is a fairy tale, written by God's fingers. — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

No, the light is too intense; we do not yet have eyes that can see all the glory God has created. But maybe someday we will have such eyes. That will be the most wonderful fairy tale of all, for we ourselves will be part of it. — Hans Christian Andersen

I only do His will, replied Death. I am his gardener. I take all His flowers and trees, and transplant them into the gardens of Paradise in an unknown land. How they flourish there, and what that garden resembles, I may not tell you. — Hans Christian Andersen

Eighty percent of our criminals come from unsympathetic homes. — Hans Christian Andersen

When the bird of the heart begins to sing, too often will reason stop up her ears. — Hans Christian Andersen

And, above all, beware of the cat. — Hans Christian Andersen

Well, yes: people write poems when they are in love, but a wise man will not print them. — Hans Christian Andersen

She thought, He whom I love more than my father or mother, he of whom I am always thinking, and in whose hands I would so willingly trust my lifelong happiness. I dare do anything to win him and to gain an immortal soul. — Hans Christian Andersen

I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling! — Hans Christian Andersen

Some are created for beauty, and some for use; and there are some which one can do without altogether. — Hans Christian Andersen

he had made a mirror with the power of causing all that was good and beautiful when it was reflected therein, to look poor and mean; but that which was good-for-nothing and looked ugly was shown magnified and increased in ugliness. In — Hans Christian Andersen

How large the world is, — Hans Christian Andersen

A human life is a story told by God. — Hans Christian Andersen

The Ugly Duckling The classic story by Hans Christian — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

There was a proud Teapot, proud of being made of porcelain, proud of its long spout and its broad handle. It had something in front of it and behind it; the spout was in front, and the handle behind, and that was what it talked about. But it didn't mention its lid, for it was cracked and it was riveted and full of defects, and we don't talk about our defects - other people do that. The cups, the cream pitcher, the sugar bowl - in fact, the whole tea service - thought much more about the defects in the lid and talked more about it than about the sound handle and the distinguished spout. The Teapot knew this. — Hans Christian Andersen

But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said. — Hans Christian Andersen

There was once a king's son. Nobody had so many or such beautiful books as he had. He could read about everything which had ever happened in the world, and see it all represented in the most beautiful pictures. — Hans Christian Andersen

And now it worked much more evil than before; for some of these pieces were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about in the wide world, and when they got into people's eyes, there they stayed; and then people saw everything perverted, or only had an eye for that which was evil. This happened because the very smallest bit had the same power which the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got a splinter in their heart, and then it made one shudder, for their heart became like a lump of ice. — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

He reached a poor little cottage that seemed ready to fall, and only remained standing because it could not decide on which side to fall first — Hans Christian Andersen

And Kay and Gerda looked in each other's eyes, and all at once they understood the old hymn: "The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet, And angels descend there the children to greet." There sat the two grown-up persons; grown-up, and yet children; children at least in heart; and it was summer-time; summer, glorious summer! — Hans Christian Andersen

You have become my thinking's single thought, My heart's first love: it had no love before. I love you as no love on earth is wrought, I love you now and love you evermore. — Hans Christian Andersen

Yes, it always pays when the wife believes and admits that her husband is the wisest man in the world and that whatever he does is right. — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

Grant not my prayers, when they are contrary to Thy will, which at all times must be the best. Oh, hear them not; — Hans Christian Andersen

Travelling expands the mind rarely. — Hans Christian Andersen

Brave soldier, never fear. Even though your death is near. — Hans Christian Andersen

Far away, where the swallows take refuge in winter, lived a king who had eleven sons and one daughter, Elise. The eleven brothers
they were all princes
used to go to school with stars on their breasts and swords at their sides. They wrote upon golden slates with diamond pencils, and could read just as well without a book as with one, so there was no mistake about their being princes. Their sister Elise sat upon a little footstool of looking-glass, and she has a picture-book which had cost the half of a kingdom. Oh, these children were very happy; but it was not to last thus forever. — Hans Christian Andersen

It is the power of thought that gives man power over nature. — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

At his next visit he fancied he must have got into a narrow needlecase, full of sharp needles: "Oh," thought he, "this must be the heart of an old maid;" but such was not the fact; — Hans Christian Andersen

But he hasn't got anything on! the whole town cried out at last. — Hans Christian Andersen

A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny. — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

Mermaids have no tears, and so they suffer all the more. — Hans Christian Andersen

You are a dreamer, and that is your misfortune. — Hans Christian Andersen

Where are your sons?" asked the prince.
"Well, it's not so easy to give an answer when you ask a stupid question!" said the woman. — Hans Christian Andersen

The stork walking about on his long red legs chattered in the Egyptian language, which he had learnt from his mother. The corn-fields and meadows were surrounded by large forests, in the midst of which were deep pools. — Hans Christian Andersen

Oh," said the mother, "that is not a turkey. How well he uses his legs, and how upright he holds himself! He is my own child, and he is not so very ugly after all if you look at him properly. Quack, quack! Come with me now. I will take you into grand society, and introduce you to the farmyard, but you must keep close to me or you may be trodden upon. And, above all, beware of the cat." When they reached the farmyard, — Hans Christian Andersen

Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects. — Hans Christian Andersen

He found whole figures which represented a written word; but he never could manage to represent just the word he wanted - that word was 'eternity', and the Snow Queen had said, "If you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master, and I will make you a present of the whole world and a pair of new skates." But he could not find it out. — Hans Christian Andersen

Here comes another — Hans Christian Andersen

Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up. — Hans Christian Andersen

My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident. — Hans Christian Andersen

In the middle of a garden grew a rose tree; it was full of roses, and in the loveliest of them all lived an elf. He was so tiny that no human eye could see him. He had a snug little room behind every petal of the rose. He was as well made and as perfect as any human child, and he had wings reaching from his shoulders to his feet. Oh, what a delicious scent there was in his room, and how lovely and transparent the walls were, for they were palest pink, rose petals. — Hans Christian Andersen

It was clear to me, as I glanced back over my earlier life, that a loving Providence watched over me, that all was directed for me by a higher power. — Hans Christian Andersen

In the days of Moses and the prophets such a man would have been counted among the wise men of the land; in the Middle Ages he would have been burned at the stake. — Hans Christian Andersen

No one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit of his office. — Hans Christian Andersen

That is impossible, — Hans Christian Andersen

I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars. — Hans Christian Andersen

I think I will sit on it a little while longer," said the duck, "as I have sat so long already, a few days will be nothing." "Please yourself," said the old duck, and she went away. — Hans Christian Andersen

The heart that one can see clearly, for the most essential things are invisible — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

We have not immortal souls, we shall never live again; but, like the green sea-weed, when once it has been cut off, we can never flourish more. Human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust. It rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars. As we rise out of the water, and behold all the land of the earth, so do they rise to unknown and glorious regions which we shall never see. — Hans Christian Andersen

Mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer more. — Hans Christian Andersen

The right sort (of story) come of themselves: they tap at my forehead and say 'Here we are. — Hans Christian Andersen

cry so strange that it frightened him. — Hans Christian Andersen

therefore, when she — Hans Christian Andersen

The sun shines upon good and bad alike. — Hans Christian Andersen

When we get to the end of the story, you will know more than you do now ... — Hans Christian Andersen

Every town, like every man, has its own countenance; they have a common likeness and yet are different; one keeps in his mind all their peculiar touches. — Hans Christian Andersen

I only appear to be dead. — Hans Christian Andersen

Now he is certainly sailing above, he on whom my wishes hang, and in whose hand I should like to lay my life's happiness. I will dare everything to win him and an immortal soul. — Hans Christian Andersen

Because she could not go near all these wonderful things, she longed for them all the more. — Hans Christian Andersen

How little do the wisest among us know of that which is so important to us all. — Hans Christian Andersen

But shouldn't all of us on earth give the best we have to others and offer whatever is in our power? — Hans Christian Andersen

Suddenly an ice-cold wind went through the vast hall, and the blind mother could feel that Death had arrived.
'How have you been able to find your way here?' he asked, 'how have you been able to get here faster than I have?'
'I'm a mother, she said. — Hans Christian Andersen

Her tender feet felt as if cut with sharp knives, but she cared not for it; a sharper pang had pierced through her heart. — Hans Christian Andersen

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. — Hans Christian Andersen

Well, that's not easy to answer when the question is so stupidly put ... — Hans Christian Andersen

Yes, it is wonderful to be alive! Indeed, the Bottle inwardly sang of all this, as do young poets, who frequently also know nothing about the things of which they sing. From The Bottle Neck — Hans Christian Andersen

[ ... ] and the pea was put in the museum, where it can still be seen, if no one has stolen it. — Hans Christian Andersen

Where words fail, music speaks. — Hans Christian Andersen

The naive was only a part of my fairy tales; humor was the real salt in them. — Hans Christian Andersen

Time is so fleeting that if we do not remember God in our youth, age may find us incapable of thinking of him. — Hans Christian Andersen

I have gone through the most terrible affair that could possibly happen; only imagine, my shadow has gone mad; I suppose such a poor, shallow brain, could not bear much; he fancies that he has become a real man, and that I am his shadow. — Hans Christian Andersen

Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with short steps. — Hans Christian Andersen

Nothing is too high for a man to reach, but he must climb with care and confidence — Hans Christian Andersen

they made themselves comfortable. — Hans Christian Andersen

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 one's 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. — Hans Christian Andersen

There was once a bundle of matches, and they were frightfully proud because of their high origin. Their family tree, that is to say the great pine tree of which they were each a little splinter, had been the giant of the forest. — Hans Christian Andersen

push it myself." On the next day the weather was delightful, and the sun shone brightly on the green burdock — Hans Christian Andersen

better than the others. I think he will grow up pretty, — Hans Christian Andersen

Well, it's not so easy to give an answer when you ask a stupid question! — Hans Christian Andersen

But these are small troubles, people will say. Yes, but they are drops which wear hollows in the rock. — Hans Christian Andersen

My life will be the best illustration of all my work. — Hans Christian Andersen

Every author has some peculiarity in his descriptions or in his style of writing. Those who do not like him, magnify it, shrug up their shoulders, and exclaim there he is again! — Hans Christian Andersen

But the Emperor has nothing at all on! — Hans Christian Andersen

Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. — Hans Christian Andersen

in a single instant, can the consciousness of the sin that has been committed in thoughts, words, and actions of our past life, be unfolded to us. When once the conscience is awakened, it springs up in the heart spontaneously, and God awakens the conscience when we least expect it. Then we can find no excuse for ourselves; the deed is there and bears witness against us. — Hans Christian Andersen

It was a lovely summer weather in the country, and the golden corn, the green oats, and the haystacks piled up in the meadows looked beautiful. The stork walking about on his long red legs chattered in the Egyptian language, which he had learnt from his mother. The corn-fields and meadows were surrounded by large forests, in the midst of which were deep pools. It was, indeed, delightful to walk about in the country. In a sunny spot stood a pleasant old farm-house close by a deep river, and from the house down to the water side grew great burdock leaves, so high, that under the tallest of them a little child could stand upright. The spot was as wild as the centre of a thick wood. In — Hans Christian Andersen