77 Hans Christian Andersen Quotes From The Famous Fairytale Writer

Oluwatosin Michael
Dec 12, 2023 By Oluwatosin Michael
Originally Published on Mar 09, 2021
Quotes from Hans Christian Andersen bring back memories of childhood.
Age: 0-99
Read time: 10.4 Min

Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish writer of prolific travelogues, poems, plays, and novels, is mostly known for his fairy tales like 'The Ugly Duckling', 'The Little Mermaid', 'Thumbelina', and lots more.

Hans Christian Andersen quotes are not only about fairy tales but also about music, love, and life. His stories have been adapted into movies and operas.

His love for travel can be seen in his quote where he mentions, to travel is to live a good life. As a writer, he is immensely popular among children. The author’s fertile imagination and narration of children’s stories are incomparable.

The best part about the stories authored by the Danish writer is their relation to real life and there’s always a life lesson to learn from them. The optimistic thoughts of the author never reflect his unhappy childhood. The writer depicts the world as a good place with a positive view through his stories.

Read on to find 'The Little Mermaid' Hans Christian Andersen quotes, 'The Velveteen Rabbit' Hans Christian Andersen quotes, Hans Christian Andersen quotes on love, Hans Christian Andersen quotes on travel, and more.

If you like these Hans Christian Andersen quotes, why not look at 'The Metamorphosis' quotes and 'The Raven' quotes.

Hans Christian Andersen Quotes About Life

Although as a writer, H.C. Andersen has authored many fairy tales, he mostly related them to life. If you look closely, most of the famous Hans Christian Andersen quotes are related to the real world.

1.  "The whole world is a series of miracles...but we're so used to them we call them ordinary things."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

2. "Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

3. "To travel is to live."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

4. "Happy domestic life is like a beautiful summer's evening; the heart is filled with peace; and everything around derives a peculiar glory."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

5. "Death walks faster than the wind and never returns what he has taken."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

6. "Madame Politics is like Venus: they whom she decoys into her castle perish."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

7. "Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

8. "Every man's life is a fairy tale, written by God's fingers."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

9. "Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

10. "To be of use to the world is the only way to be happy."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

11. "A human life is a story told by God."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

12. "I only appear to be dead."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

13. "Every man’s life is a fairytale written by God’s hand."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

14. "He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

15. "Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with short steps."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

16. "Some are created for beauty, and some for use; and there are some which one can do without altogether."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

Short Hans Christian Andersen Quotes

Hans Christian Andersen stories are loved by all children.

As an author, H.C. Andersen believed in including humor, emotions, and morals in his stories. So what, if his most cherished works as a writer are fairy tales, they are one of the world’s favorites! Check out these awesome fairytale quotes from the author.

17. "My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

18. "It is the power of thought that gives man power over nature."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

19. "Joy prompts courage."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

20. "And, above all, beware of the cat."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

21. "Cry so strange that it frightened him."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

22. "Better than the others. I think he will grow up pretty."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

23. "How large the world is."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

24. "On the next day the weather was delightful, and the sun shone brightly on the green burdock."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

25. "We have the same time to live; only we reckon differently."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

26. "Each soldier was the living image of the others, but there was one who was a bit different."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

27. "The sun shines upon good and bad alike."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

28. "No, the light is too intense; we do not yet have eyes that can see all the glory God has created."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

29. "The naive was only a part of my fairy tales; humor was the real salt in them."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

30. "Eighty percent of our criminals come from unsympathetic homes."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

Hans Christian Andersen Quotes About Love

Hans Christian Andersen quotes about love are mostly from his stories. The author’s deep emotions are expressed well, even in his fairy tales.

31. "When the bird of the heart begins to sing, too often will reason stop up her ears."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

32. "Well, that's not easy to answer when the question is so stupidly put..."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

33. "I love you as no love as no love on earth is wrought; I love you now and love you evermore."

– Hans Christian Andersen.

34. "They sat close to each other, and he told her a story about her eyes….And her forehead was a snowy mountain... These were lovely stories."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

35. "They made themselves comfortable."

– Hans Christian Andersen.

36. "The heart that one can see clearly, for the most essential things are invisible."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

37. "I’d like to know – do you really deserve to have someone run to the end of the world just for your sake?"

- Hans Christian Andersen.

38. "Almighty God,…! Give me a livelihood! Give me a bride! My blood wants love, as my heart does!"

- Hans Christian Andersen.

39. "A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being..."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

40. "At first she was overjoyed that he would be with her, but then she recalled that human people could not live under the water…"

- Hans Christian Andersen.

41. "He whom I love more than my father or mother, …in whose hands I would so willingly trust my lifelong happiness…."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

Hans Christian Andersen Quotes About Art

Hans Christian Andersen stories will be told for generations to come.

The author praises music and art, as can be seen in several Hans Christian Andersen quotes. Being an author of fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen quotes have a fantastic way of maintaining a balance of emotions that everyone can relate to.

42. "Where words fail, music speaks."

– Hans Christian Andersen.

43. "Each time I think that the song is ended...something higher and better begins for me."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

44. "My life will be the best illustration of all my work."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

45. ‎"Does all the beauty of the world stop when you die?"

- Hans Christian Andersen.

46. "The good and the beautiful is not forgotten; it lives in legend and in song".

- Hans Christian Andersen.

Hans Christian Andersen Inspiring Quotes

Many of the quotes by the Danish author relate deeply to life. These Hans Christian Andersen quotes try to express something optimistic about life.

47. "A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being..."

– Hans Christian Andersen.

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

- Hans Christian Andersen.

49. "You are a dreamer, and that is your misfortune."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

50. "Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

51. "Often I ask, deeply moved in my heart, why does God grant me so much happiness. Where everything is given, one cannot be proud, one bows one's head in humility."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

52. "Every town, like every man, has its own countenance; they have a common likeness and yet are different…"

- Hans Christian Andersen.

53. "The angel plucks a large handful of flowers, and they carry it with them up to God, where the flowers bloom more brightly than they ever did on earth."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

54. "One cannot quite trust the word of potted flowers," thought the butterfly; "they have too much to do with men."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

55. "Brave soldier, never fear. Even though your death is near."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

56. "I will bow myself before him who is influenced by a noble conviction, and who only desires that which is conducive to good…"

- Hans Christian Andersen.

57. "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.

58. "But these are small troubles…Yes, but they are drops which wear hollows in the rock."

– Hans Christian Andersen.

59. "The wiser a man becomes, the more he will read, and those who are wisest read most."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

60. "Nothing is too high for a man to reach, but he must climb with care and confidence."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

61. "We cannot expect to be happy always...by experiencing evil as well as good we become wise."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

62. "Human beings… have a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust..."

-Hans Christian Andersen.

63. "I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day…."

- Hans Christian Andersen.

Popular Hans Christian Andersen Quotes From His Fairy Tales

Read Hans Christian Andersen quotes from the author’s fairy tales and guess where each one is from.

64. "When we get to the end of the story, you will know more than you do now..."

― Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Snow Queen’.

65. "Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea."

- Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Little Mermaid’.

66. "It doesn't matter if you're born in a duck yard, so long as you are hatched from a swan's egg!"

- Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Ugly Duckling’.

67. "And they both sat there, grown up, yet children at heart; and it was…warm, beautiful summer."

― Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Snow Queen’.

68. "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’.

69. "The prince took her for his wife, for he knew that in her he had found a true princess…And this, mind you, is a real story."

— Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Real Princess’.

70. "She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart."

– ‘Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid’.

71. "At length they reached the warm countries, where the sun shines brightly and the sky seems so much higher above the earth."

— ‘Hans Christian Andersen, Thumbelina’.

72. "I will fly to those royal birds."

— Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Ugly Duckling’.

73. "Mermaids have no tears, and so they suffer all the more."

– Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Little Mermaid’.

74. "I know what you want. It is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and it will bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess. - The sea witch."

– Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Little Mermaid’.

75. "I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling."

- Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Ugly Duckling’.

76. "The swallow sang "Tweet, tweet," and from his song came the whole story."

- Hans Christian Andersen, ‘Thumbelina’.

77. "But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said."

– Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Hans Christian Andersen quotes from the famous fairytale writer, then why not take a look at bullet journal quotes, or calm quotes.

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Written by Oluwatosin Michael

Bachelor of Science specializing in Microbiology

Oluwatosin Michael picture

Oluwatosin MichaelBachelor of Science specializing in Microbiology

With a Bachelor's in Microbiology from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Oluwatosin has honed his skills as an SEO content writer, editor, and growth manager. He has written articles, conducted extensive research, and optimized content for search engines. His expertise extends to leading link-building efforts and revising onboarding strategies. 

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