“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
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
“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
“You must teach the child of the signs that come to the women of our family when there is trouble and death… — Betty Smith Children Copy Share Image
“How’d you know it was a tulip if you’d never seen one?” “I’d seen pictures. Well, when I looked at it, the… — Betty Smith Flowers Copy Share Image
“School days went along. Some were made up of meanness, brutality, and heartbreak; others were bright and beautiful because of Miss Bernstone… — Betty Smith Learning Copy Share Image
“Mother! Katie remembered. She had called her own mother "mama" until the day she had told her that she was going to… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“A song that Johnny sang once,” explained Katie. As Francie wrote the name, she heard the chords; she heard her father singing,… — Betty Smith Better world 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… — Betty Smith Being happy Copy Share Image
Someday you'll remember what I said and you'll thank me for it." Francie wished adults would stop telling her that. Already the… — Betty Smith Adults Copy Share Image
“A woman, big with child, sat patiently at the curb in a stiff wooden chair. She sat in the hot sunshine watching… — Betty Smith Children Copy Share Image
“Was that a bad lady, Papa?" she asked eagerly. No." But she looked bad." There are very few bad people. There are… — Betty Smith Bad people Copy Share Image
“Joanna. Remember Joanna. Francie could never forget her. From that time on, remembering the stoning women, she hated women. She feared them… — Betty Smith Time Copy Share Image
“When it first appeared, in 1943, it was called, by those critics who liked it, an honest book, and that is accurate… — Betty Smith Books Copy Share Image
“And that’s where the whole trouble is,” thought Francie. “We’re too much alike to understand each other because we don’t even understand… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Francie is smart, she thought. She must go to high school and maybe beyond that. She's a learner and she'll be somebody… — Betty Smith Better way Copy Share Image
The library was a little old shaby place. Francie thought it was beautiful. The feeling she had about it was as good… — Betty Smith Beautiful 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
“Let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me… — Betty Smith Being truthful Copy Share Image
“Ghosts are not always those who pass through closed doors,” said Mary Rommely. “Katie has told how her husband used to talk… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
She was surprised at how tiny the school seemed now. She supposed it was just as big as it had ever been… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Well' Francie decided, 'I guess the thing that is giving me this headache is life - and nothing else but'. — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“An eleven-year-old girl sitting on this fire escape could imagine that she was living in a tree.” — Betty Smith Girl Copy Share Image
“After Election, the politicians forgot their promises and enjoyed an earned rest until New Year, when they started work on the next… — Betty Smith Democracy Copy Share Image
There's a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it… — Betty Smith Brooklyn Copy Share Image
“But in their secret hearts, each new that it wasn't all right and would never be all right between them again.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“When I grow up and know that I am going to have a baby, I will remember to walk proud and slow.” — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
People looking up at her--at her smooth pretty vivacious face--had no way of knowing about the painfully articulated resolves formulating in her… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
I want to live for something. I don't want to live to get charity food to give me enough strength to go… — Betty Smith Charity Copy Share Image
“In the winter, when the first snow was too delicate to last on the sidewalks, it clung to the rough surface of… — Betty Smith First snow 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 Life Copy Share Image
“When night draws back the curtain, And pins it with a star, Remember you are still my friend, Though you may wander… — Betty Smith Friend Copy Share Image
Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on… — Betty Smith Earth Copy Share Image
“She loved the library and was anxious to worship the lady in charge. But the librarian had other things on her mind.… — Betty Smith Children Copy Share Image
“You must learn to take a joke, Francie, otherwise life will be pretty hard on you.” — Betty Smith Comedy Copy Share Image
How much do they be paying you?" he asked mellowly. "The usual salary. A little more than they think I'm worth and… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
