But in their secret hearts, each new that it wasn't all…

“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

“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

As long as one can suffer, one is living…live and suffer until life is gone.

— Betty Smith

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

It takes a lot of doing to die.

— Betty Smith

“She sat in the sunshine watching the life on the street and guarding within herself, her own mystery of life.”

— Betty Smith

...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

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

“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

“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

“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