She was made up of more, too. She was the books she read in the library. She was the flower in the… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Those were the Rommely women: Mary, the mother, Evy, Sissy, and Katie, her daughters, and Francie, who would grow up to be… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky. It grew in boarded-up lots and… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Francie looked at her legs. They were long, slender, and exquisitely molded. She wore the sheerest of flawless silk stockings, and expensively… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Katie had a fierce desire for survival which made her a fighter. Johnny had a hankering after immortality which made him a… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
A lie was something you told because you were mean or a coward. A story was something you made up out of… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
She told Papa about it. He made her stick out her tongue and he felt her wrist. He shook his head sadly… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
It was so simple that a flash of astonishment that felt like pain shot through her head. Education! That was it! It… — 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 Image
“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 Image
As long as one can suffer, one is living....live and suffer until life is gone. — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“She sat in the sunshine watching the life on the street and guarding within herself, her own mystery of life.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
...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 Image
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 Image
