“Then I've been drunk, too," admitted Francie. "On beer?" "No. Last spring, in McCarren's Park, I saw a tulip for the first… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
From that moment on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again. — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
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
Oh time...time, pass so that I forget! Oh time, Great Healer, pass over me and let me forget. — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Her time has come," answered Miss Lizzie. "That's why I didn't marry Harvey - long ago when he asked me. I was… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“You know, a lot of people would think that these stories that you're making up all the time were terrible lies because… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Francie went over to stand at the great window from which she could see the East River twenty stories below. It was… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“She got herself widowed, divorced, married, and pregnant – all in ten days’ time.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first time or the last time. Then your time on earth… — 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
