“Someone has to lose and it's just as apt to be you as the other fellow.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words. — Betty Smith Children Copy Share Image
“Do you hear that, Francie? You're in college! 'oh gosh, I feel sick.” — Betty Smith College Copy Share Image
Suffering is also good, it makes a person rich in charachter. — Betty Smith Character Copy Share Image
In teaching your child, do not forget that suffering is good too. It makes a person rich in character. — Betty Smith Character Copy Share Image
The difference between rich and poor", said Francie, "is that the poor do everything with thier own hands and the rich hire… — Betty Smith Differences Copy Share Image
No. I don't want to need anybody. I want someone to need me ... I want someone to need me. — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
She had become accustomed to being lonely. She was used to walking alone and to being considered 'different.' She did not suffer… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
We'll leave now, so that this moment will remain a perfect memory...let it be our song and think of me every time… — Betty Smith Memories Copy Share Image
It doesn't take long to write things of which you know nothing. When you write of actual things, it takes longer, because… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Some day I'll fool you, Mama. I'll do what I think is right for me and it might not be right in… — Betty Smith Fool Copy Share Image
“All of us are what we have to be and everyone lives the kind of life it's in him to live.” — Betty Smith Life 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 Astonishment Copy Share Image
“I need someone,” thought Francie desperately. “I need someone. I need to hold somebody close. And I need more than this holding.… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“MOST CHILDREN BROUGHT UP IN BROOKLYN BEFORE THE FIRST World War remember Thanksgiving Day there with a peculiar tenderness. It was the… — Betty Smith Children Copy Share Image
A person who pulls himself up from a low environment via the bootstrap route has two choices. Having risen above his environment,… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“If he went around looking into people’s windows like you say, He’d see how things were here; He’d see that it was… — 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,… — Betty Smith Dream Copy Share Image
Sometimes I think it's better to suffer bitter unhappiness and to fight and to scream out, and even to suffer that terrible… — 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
“Filth, filth, filth, from morning to night. I know they're poor but they could wash. Water is free and soap is cheap.… — Betty Smith Better world Copy Share Image
“Growing up spoiled a lot of things. It spoiled the nice game they had when there was nothing to eat in the… — Betty Smith Big things Copy Share Image
“Each day, as she passed the house whose number she claimed, she looked at it with gratitude and affection. On windy days,… — Betty Smith Love Copy Share Image
“And the child, Francie Nolan, was of all the Rommelys and all the Nolans. She had the violent weaknesses and passion for… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“She wasn’t satisfied with the play she saw the following Saturday, either. All right. The long-lost lover came home just in time… — Betty Smith Landlord Copy Share Image
“He fussed and argued and finally went away saying he’d bring back the deed. Mama sent Francie over to Sissy’s house to… — 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… — Betty Smith Judaism Copy Share Image
“Francie always remembered what that kind teacher told her. “You know, Francie, a lot of people would think that these stories that… — Betty Smith Lies Copy Share Image
“Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or the last time.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
If there was only one tree like that in the world, you would think it was beautiful. But because there are so… — Betty Smith Beautiful Copy Share Image
“She read the words over aloud. They sounded like words that came in a can; the freshness was cooked out of them.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
There had to be dark and muddy waters so that the sun could have something to background it's flashing glory. — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“the fabric of family, the limits of love, the loss of innocence and the birth of knowledge.” — Betty Smith Family Copy Share Image
“Neeley came home and he and Francie were sent out for the weekend meat. This was an important ritual and called for… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Katie! Don't nag! All of us are what we have to be and everyone lives the life it's in him to live.” — Betty Smith Life Copy Share Image
