The 60 Best Anne of Green Gables Quotes for Kindred Spirits
Every year when the leaves start to turn, I get the urge to pull Anne off the shelf and lose myself on Prince Edward Island. The eight books in this old series are full of heart-warming and hilarious moments that will make you laugh and cry. But we most often remember Anne for her smart quips that stick with us long after we’ve closed the final cover. Every kindred spirit will fall in in love all over again with these Anne of Green Gables quotes.
At first glance, the Anne of Green Gable series seems like it’s written for tween or teen girls. But many a grown woman will tell you she still reads them.
The books are perfect for mother/daughter read-along, or to sit and enjoy with a cup of tea–or some raspberry cordial every time October rolls around.
All the best books draw us in and make us fall in love with literary characters. No matter how many times I read the book Anne of Green Gables, or any of the other books in the series, I never get tired of them.
I always cringe when Gilbert calls Anne “Carrots,” and somehow I’m never sure he’ll recover in time for Anne to tell him how she feels.
Who can’t help but giggle when Anne floats away while playing “The Lady of Shalott” and roll their eyes at Josie Pye and her snobbish ways?
When Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote the series, she did a marvelous job of describing her beautiful homeland. Even though I’m not Canadian by any means, I feel a bit of patriotic pride for good ole P.E.I. and Anne makes me feel right at home.
If you’ve read and loved Anne, these quotes are sure to strike happy memories in your heart. If not, I hope they’ll encourage you to read these wonderful books!
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60 Best Anne of Green Gables Quotes
The Anne of Green Gables series is full of memorable quotes from all the characters: Marilla Cuthbert, Mrs. Rachel Lynde, Matthew Cuthbert, Gilbert Blythe, and more. But the best quotes come from the charming redhead herself.
You know Anne was always on the lookout for kindred spirits. These favorite quotes will prove she often found them–and you just might be one, too!
Anne of Green Gables’ Most Famous Sayings
Anne had a lot of powerful and beautiful quotes, but these are the ones we think of the most often. In fact, some people may not even realize these come from a fictional character at all!
“Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
“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.”
“But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne with an ‘e’.”
“Dear old world. You are very lovely and I am glad to be alive in you.”
The Most Beautiful Quotes from Anne of Green Gables
L.M. Montgomery could certainly turn a phrase. These beautiful quotes remind us that anything is possible for someone with dreams and a bit of imagination.
“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“It’s lovely to be going home and know it’s home.”
“Anne’s beauty-loving eyes lingered on it all, taking everything greedily in. She had looked on so many unlovely places in her life, poor child; but this was as lovely as anything she had ever dreamed.”
“It was November–the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul.”
“The world looks like something God had just imagined for His own pleasure, doesn’t it?”
“True friends are always together in spirit.”
“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.”
“Well now, I’d rather have you than a dozen boys, Anne,’ said Matthew patting her hand. ‘Just mind you that — rather than a dozen boys. Well now, I guess it wasn’t a boy that took the Avery scholarship, was it? It was a girl — my girl — my girl that I’m proud of.”
“God’s in His heaven, alls right with the world.”
“Anne came dancing home in the purple winter twilight across the snowy places.”
Powerful Quotes from Anne Shirley
Anne was always a girl of big ideas and big ambitions–and she always loved using big words to express them. The most wonderful part of Anne’s story is her transformation from a red-headed orphan to a beautiful and intelligent woman.
“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything would it?”
“When I left Queen’s my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does.”
“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.”
“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
“I’ve done my best, and I begin to understand what is meant by ‘the joy of strife’. Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.”
“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything would it?”
“All things great are wound up with all things little.”
“We ought always to try to influence other people for good.”
“You mayn’t get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them.”
“Don’t give up all your romance Anne, a little of it is a good thing – not too much of course-but keep a little of it.”
“Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them[.]”
“It’s delightful when your imaginations come true, isn’t it?”
“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.”
“Anne always remembered the silvery, peaceful beauty and fragrant calm of that night. It was the last night before sorrow touched her life; and no life is ever quite the same again when once that cold, sanctifying touch has been laid upon it.”
Entertaining Quotes from Anne and Green Gables
Anne Shirley never missed an opportunity to get herself into crazy situations. Who can forget when she dyed her red hair green or sold Rachel’s cow?
Some of the best quotes from the series come from Anne’s predicaments and the life lessons she learned!
“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?”
“Well, that is another hope gone. ‘My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.’ That’s a sentence I read in a book once, and I say it over to comfort myself whenever I’m disappointed in anything.”
“There’s such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I’m such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn’t be half so interesting.”
“But really, Marilla, one can’t stay sad very long in such an interesting world, can one?”
“It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable.”
“Which would you rather be if you had the choice–divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?”
“I can’t cheer up — I don’t want to cheer up. It’s nicer to be miserable!”
“I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I’ve never been able to believe it. I don’t believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.”
“And 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?”
“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.”
“What a splendid day! Isn’t it good just to be alive on a day like this? I pity the people who aren’t born yet for missing it…they may have good days, of course, but they can never have this one.”
“I do hope that some day I shall have a white dress. That is my highest ideal of earthly bliss.”
“You’d find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair… People who haven’t red hair don’t know what trouble is.”
“That is one of the advantages of being thirteen. You know so much more than you did when you were only twelve.”
“It’s so much more romantic to end a story up with a funeral than a wedding.”
“Miss Barry was a kindred spirit after all,” Anne confided to Marilla.”
“Matthew, much to his own surprise, was enjoying himself. Like most quiet folks he liked talkative people when they were willing to do the talking themselves and did not expect him to keep up his end of it.“
“But really, Marilla, one can’t stay sad very long in such an interesting world, can one?”
Anne: “But have you ever noticed one encouraging thing about me, Marilla? I never make the same mistake twice”.
Marilla: “I don’t know as that’s much benefit when you’re always making new ones”.
“Mrs. Lynde says, ‘Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.’ But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed.”
Gilbert Blythe’s Best Quotes
While everyone loves Anne, we all love Gilbert just as much! His intelligence, kindness and downright romance made him a vital part of these best-selling books. Not to mention he’s downright swoon-worthy!
“I have a dream. I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of a home with a hearth-fire in it, a cat and dog, the footsteps of friends–and YOU!”
“Life’s too short to hold grudges anyway.”
“All pioneers are considered to be afflicted with moonstruck madness.”
“You only know something when you know it. Not a minute before.”
“I won’t change. That’s the least I can promise you.”
“Well, I hope you keep on dreaming. It’ll be three years before I finish medical school. Even then there won’t be any diamond sunbursts or marble halls.”
(I admit, this quote is from the movie and not the books…but it’s my absolute favorite and I could watch this scene a thousand times!)
Be a Kindred Spirit
Looking for your own copy of Anne of Green Gables? Check out these editions:
- Anne of Green Gables boxed set
- Anne of Green Gables Hardcover edition (Puffin in Bloom)
- Anne of Green Gables Treasury (4-book deluxe set)
- Anne of Green Gables movie (watch it with Amazon Prime)
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Love this. I read the first book as a girl, but recently got the whole series and am currently reading it through. I love them! I’ve laughed and cried, and I recognized many of these quotes as I read through these. Great read!
Thank you, Misty! I felt the same way as I was writing them. L.M. Montgomery could paint such beautiful word pictures and they always bring back memories.