There's a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Brooklyn was a dream. All the things that happened there just couldn't happen. It was all dream stuff. Or was it all… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
You took a walk on a Sunday afternoon and came to a nice neighborhood, very refined. You saw a small one of… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
'Dear God,' she prayed, 'let me be something every minute of every hour of my life.' — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
It meant that she belonged some place. She was a Brooklyn girl with a Brooklyn name and a Brooklyn accent. She didn't… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber as a word was… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
There's a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Did you ever see so many pee-wee hats, Carl?" "They're beanies." "They call them pee-wees in Brooklyn." "But I'm not in Brooklyn."… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Yes, when I get big and have my own home, no plush chairs and lace curtains for me. And no rubber plants. I'll have… — Betty Smith Copy Share
“Several times that day, the name or thought of Papa had come up. And each time, Francie had felt a flash of tenderness instead… — Betty Smith Copy Share
As long as one can suffer, one is living…live and suffer until life is gone. — Betty Smith Copy Share
“Sissy told them they were way behind the times; that midwives were things of the past. Besides, she informed them proudly, she had no… — Betty Smith Copy Share
“Why, Mrs McGarrity's all right. Mr McGarrity's all right, too. Only I guess they aren't all right to each other.” — Betty Smith Copy Share
“I drink because I don't stand a chance and I know it. I couldn't drive a truck and I couldn't get on the cops… — Betty Smith Copy Share
“Pipe dreams, he thought to himself, even while he was telling her about his dream winnings. But oh, how wonderful, he thought, if everything… — Betty Smith Copy Share
“Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and… — Betty Smith Copy Share
“She sat in the sunshine watching the life on the street and guarding within herself, her own mystery of life.” — Betty Smith Copy Share
...the reading, the observing, the living from day to day. It was something that had been born into her and her only - the… — Betty Smith Copy Share
People always think that happiness is a faraway thing … something complicated and hard to get. Yet, what little things can make it up. — Betty Smith Copy Share
“Hildy O’Dair is old for her age,” she thought. “It’s like powder was sprinkled on her yellow hair. But she’s not much older than… — Betty Smith Copy Share
“One day they’re babies in buggies and the next day they’re in here taking picks. Kids grow up quick in this neighborhood.” — Betty Smith Copy Share
“If she never had any lovers, she kicks herself around when the change comes, thinking of all the fun she could have had, didn’t… — Betty Smith Copy Share
