Danish author (1805-1875)
Then they kissed each other, and the young girl wept, and gave him a rose but before she gave it to him she pressed a kiss upon it, a kiss so tender and impassioned that the rose spread its petals.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Rose Elf"
At first she was overjoyed that he would be with her, but then she recalled that human people could not live under the water, and he could only visit her father's palace as a dead man.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Little Mermaid"
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
"The Emperor's New Clothes"
The sun shines upon good and bad alike.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"A Picture from the Ramparts"
Now I shall be of some use in the world, as every one ought to be; it is the only way to be happy.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Flax"
Nothing gave her greater pleasure than to hear about the world of human beings up above; she made her old grandmother tell her all that she knew about ships and towns, people and animals. But above all it seemed strangely beautiful to her that up on the earth the flowers were scented, for they were not so at the bottom of the sea.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Little Mermaid"
His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Ugly Duckling"
Well, it's not so easy to give an answer when you ask a stupid question!
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Garden of Paradise"
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
"The Puppet-showman"
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
"The Teapot"
Each little princess had her own little plot of garden where she could dig and plant just as she liked. One made her flower-bed in the shape of a whale, another thought it nice to have hers like a little mermaid; but the youngest made hers quite round like the sun, and she would only have flowers of a rosy hue like its beams.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Little Mermaid"
Continue ye merry notes! The evening is mild, the sea is calm and bright as any mirror.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"A Picture from the Ramparts"
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
"The Top and the Bell"
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
"The Rose Elf"
Everything you look at can be turned into a story ... you can make a tale of everything you touch.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Elder Tree Mother"
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
"The Little Mermaid"
Some are created for beauty, and some for use; and there are some which one can do without altogether.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"There Is a Difference"
I will bow myself before him who is influenced by a noble conviction, and who only desires that which is conducive to good, be he prince or man of the people.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The Story of My Life
"One cannot quite trust the word of potted flowers," thought the butterfly; "they have too much to do with men."
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
"The Butterfly"
I met in the so-called first families of the country a number of friendly, kind-hearted men, who valued the good that was in me, received me into their circles, and permitted me to participate in the happiness of their opulent summer residences; so that, still feeling independent, I could thoroughly give myself up to the pleasures of nature, the solitude of woods, and country life. There for the first time I lived wholly among the scenery of Denmark, and there I wrote the greater number of my fairy tales. On the banks of quiet lakes, amid the woods, on the green grassy pastures, where the game sprang past me, and the stork paced along on his red legs, I heard nothing of politics, nothing of polemics; I heard no one practicing himself in Hegel's phraseology. Nature, which was around me, and within me, preached to me of my calling.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The Story of My Life