Fairy Tales of 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.””

— H. C. 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.””

— H. C. Andersen

“Den lille havfrue måtte tænke på den første gang hun dykkede op af havet og så den samme pragt og glæde, og hun hvirvlede sig med i dansen, svævede, som svalen svæver når den forfølges, og alle tiljublede hende beundring, aldrig havde hun danset så herligt; det skar som skarpe knive i de fine fødder, men hun følte det ikke; det skar hende smerteligere i hjertet.””

— H. C. Andersen

“Superbe! Charmant! exclaimed the ladies; for they all used to chatter French, each one worse than her neighbor.””

— H. C. Andersen

“only that the mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer more.””

— H. C. 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;””

— H. C. Andersen

“One day, two rogues, calling themselves weavers, made their appearance. They gave out that they knew how to weave stuffs of the most beautiful colors and elaborate patterns, the clothes manufactured from which should have the wonderful property of remaining invisible to everyone who was unfit for the office he held, or who was extraordinarily simple in character.””

— H. C. Andersen

“The beautiful and the good are never forgotten, they live always in story or in song.””

— H. C. Andersen

“word is a shadow,” said the shadow, “and as such it must speak.””

— H. C. Andersen