It's come at last," she thought, "the time when you can no longer stand between your children and heartache. When there wasn't… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“You’ll never raise that one,” they told her. “Her color ain’t good. If the good Lord takes her, it will be for… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Mother, I am young. Mother, I am just eighteen. I am strong. I will work hard, Mother. But I do not want… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Although Katie had this same flair for coloring an incident and Johnny himself lived in a half-dream world, yet they tried to… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Most women had the one thing in common: they had great pain when they gave birth to their children. This should make… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“If there was only one tree like that in the world, you would think it was beautiful,” said Katie. “But because there… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“And the sleds! (Or, as the Williamsburg children called them, the sleighs.) There was a child’s dream of heaven come true! A… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Oh, magic hour when a child first knows it can read printed words! For quite a while, Francie had been spelling out… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Sissy had two great failings. She was a great lover and a great mother. She had so much of tenderness in her,… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Sissy had two great failings. She was a great lover and a great mother. She had so much of tenderness in her,… — 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
