“‘I should not have chosen that way of mending a fault,’ replied her mother, ‘but I’m not sure that it won’t do you more good than a bolder method. You are getting to be rather conceited, my dear, and it is quite time you set about correcting it. You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.'”
– Louisa May Alcott
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“Conceit spoils the finest genius” sources: Quote is from the book Little Women, written by Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes. The first was published in 1868 and the second in 1869. / Warren, G. K. , – 1884. Louisa May Alcott, writer, abolitionist, and Civil War nurse / Portrait taken in 1870, Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division – Warren’s Portraits, 465 Washington St., Boston. [Boston: Warren’s Portraits, 465 Washington St] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2017660625/>.
