“There had to be the dark and muddy waters so that the sun could have something to background its flashing glory. a” — Betty Smith Dark Copy Share Image
“Sometimes when you had nothing at all and it was raining and you were alone in the flat, it was wonderful to… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“I don’t know,” Miss Lizzie said. “Sometimes I think it’s better to suffer bitter unhappiness and to fight and to scream out,… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
As she read, at peace with the world and happy as only a little girl could be with a fine book and… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
I need someone. I need to hold somebody close. And I need more than this holding. I need someone to understand how… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“They came together, they loved and they married. In innocence, and never dreaming how courageous they were, they started a new life… — Betty Smith Life Copy Share Image
“On a rainy day, she wouldn’t give a lesson. She’d take a block of paper and a stick of charcoal and sketch… — Betty Smith Rainy day Copy Share Image
Francie was ten years old when she first found an outlet in writing. What she wrote was of little consequence. What was… — Betty Smith Consequence 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 Book 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 Beautiful Copy Share Image
“engaged," he said bitterly. "Everybody's engaged. Everybody in a small town is engaged or married or in trouble. There's nothing else to… — Betty Smith Children Copy Share Image
“But he refused to answer when addressed in English and forbade the speaking of English in his home. His daughters understood very… — 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… — Betty Smith Forgetting Copy Share Image
“If she never had any lovers, she kicks herself around when the change comes, thinking of all the fun she could have… — Betty Smith Change Copy Share Image
Did you ever see so many pee-wee hats, Carl?" "They're beanies." "They call them pee-wees in Brooklyn." "But I'm not in Brooklyn."… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Remember Joanna. Remember Joanna. Francie could never forget her. From that time on, remembering the stoning women, she hated women. She feared… — Betty Smith Time Copy Share Image
“May I have this damaged bunch for two cents? Speak strongly and it shall be yours for two cents. That is a… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“I think it's good that people like us can waste something once in a while and get the feeling of how it… — Betty Smith Money Copy Share Image
“Money! Would that make it better for them? Yes, it would make it easy. But no, the money wouldn't be enough… That… — Betty Smith Education Copy Share Image
“She did not hate Miss Garnder anymore. She didn’t like her, but she felt sorry for her. Miss Garnder had nothing in… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
Occasionally there is a moment in a person's life when he takes a great stride forward in wisdom, humility, or disillusionment. For… — Betty Smith Breaths Copy Share Image
“She loved books. She loved them with her senses and her intellect. They way they looked and smelled; the way they felt… — Betty Smith Book 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
“you’ll always come out all right – no matter what. You’re like me that way.’ And that’s where the whole trouble is,”… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“Somehow during their aimless but oh-so-significant conversation with its delicious pauses and thrilling undercurrents of emotion, they came to know that they… — Betty Smith Communication Copy Share Image
“Why can't they," she thought bitterly, "just give the doll away without saying I am poor and she is rich? Why couldn't… — Betty Smith Doll Copy Share Image
“Why should I want to cheat you, Mrs. Nolan?” he asked plaintively as he put the money away carefully. “Why should anyone… — 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… — Betty Smith Adversity Copy Share Image
“Laurie's going to have a mighty easy life all right. Annie Laurie McShane! She'll never have the hard times we had, will… — Betty Smith Easy life Copy Share Image
“It was one of the links between the ground-down poor and the wasteful rich. The girl felt that even if she had… — Betty Smith Money Copy Share Image
“Mary was convinced that because of some sin she had unwittingly committed in her life, she was mated with the devil himself.… — Betty Smith Life Copy Share Image
She had heard Papa sing so many songs about the heart; the heart that was breaking - was aching - was dancing… — Betty Smith Dancing Copy Share Image
“Francie of course became an outsider shunned by all because of her stench. But she had grown accustomed to being lonely. She… — Betty Smith Heart Copy Share Image
In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think… — Betty Smith Advice Copy Share Image
“She wanted to own a book so badly and she had thought the copying would do it. But the pencilled sheets did… — Betty Smith Book Copy Share Image
I never listen to what people tell me and I can't read. The only way I know what is right and wrong… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
But the penciled sheets did not seem like nor smell like the library book so she had given it up, consoling herself… — Betty Smith Book Copy Share Image
Everything, decided Francie after that first lecture, was vibrant with life and there was no death in chemistry. She was puzzled as… — Betty Smith Chemistry Copy Share Image
“Flossie was always running after men and they were always running away from her. Francie's Aunt Sissy ran after men, too. But… — Betty Smith Copy Share Image
“The neighborhood stores are an important part of a city child's life. They are his contact with the supplies that keep life… — Betty Smith Beauty Copy Share Image
