I am angry nearly every day of my life, Jo, but I have learned not to show it; and I still hope to learn not to feel it, though it may take me another forty years to do so.

The line is spoken by Marmee (Margaret March), the mother in Louisa May Alcott’s novel *Little Women* (1868). She says it to her daughter Jo after Jo has struggled with her temper and feels ashamed of her anger. Marmee confides that she, too, has a strong temper and has spent much of her life disciplining it—first learning to restrain outward displays, and still working toward inward calm. In the domestic, moral-educational setting of the March household, Alcott uses the moment as a candid parental lesson: virtue is not innate perfection but sustained self-governance over time.

Marmee’s confession reframes anger not as a childish flaw unique to Jo but as a lifelong human struggle. The quote distinguishes between controlling expression (“not to show it”) and transforming inner life (“not to feel it”), suggesting that moral growth proceeds in stages: restraint, reflection, and gradual reformation of habit. Its power lies in its realism—progress may take decades—and in its compassion, offering Jo hope without minimizing the difficulty. Alcott also subtly challenges idealized images of saintly motherhood by giving Marmee an interior battle, making virtue credible as practiced discipline rather than effortless goodness.