Quotessence
Home / Authors / Betty Smith
Betty Smith

Betty Smith Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleBrooklynChildrenLittlesBookReadingSufferingWorldGrowing UpMenFirstsMadeTreeWantBeautifulHardHeartIfsKnowsThinking

Famous Betty Smith Quotes

“She was made up of more, too. She was the books she read in the library. She was the flower in the brown bowl. Part of her life was made from the tree growing rankly in the yard. She was the bitter quarrels she had with her brother whom she loved dearly. She was Katie's secret, despairing weeping. She was the shame of her father stumbling home drunk. She was all of these things and of something more...It was what God or whatever is His equivalent puts into each soul that is given life - the one different thing such as that which makes no two fingerprints on the face of the earth alike.”

MadeTwoBookDifferentSoulHomeEarthFacesFatherGivenSecretGrowingTreeBrotherFlowerShameLibraryBitterDrunkBrownDifferent ThingsBowlsYardsQuarrelsWeepingStumblingKatieFingerprintsGiven Life
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Create 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 a desk like this in my parlor and white walls and a clean green blotter every Saturday night and a row of shining yellow pencils always sharpened for writing and a golden-brown bowl with a flower or some leaves or berries always in it and books . . . books . . . books. . . .”

WritingBookHomeBigsNightMy OwnWhiteFlowerWallGreenShiningCleanPlantGoldenBrownChairsYellowBowlsDesksSaturdayPencilsCurtainsSaturday NightRubberBerriesLaceParlorWhite Walls
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Create image

“People always think that happiness is a faraway thing," thought Francie, "something complicated and hard to get. Yet, what little things can make it up; a place of shelter when it rains - a cup of strong hot coffee when you're blue; for a man, a cigarette for contentment; a book to read when you're alone - just to be with someone you love. Those things make happiness.”

PeopleThinkingMenLittlesBookHardStrongRainHotBlueComplicatedCoffeeCupsContentmentLittle ThingsShelterCigaretteSomeone You Love
Book:A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN MAGGIE NOW
Create image

“Mother, I am young. Mother, I am just eighteen. I am strong. I will work hard, Mother. But I do not want this child to grow up just to work hard. What must I do, mother, what must I do to make a different world for her? How do I start?" "The secret lies in the reading and the writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read. Then she must read every day, I know this is the secret”

KnowsWorldWantWritingChildrenBookDifferentHardAbleYoungLyingMotherReadingStrongGrowsSecretGrowing UpHard WorkPagesYour ChildrenGood BookEighteenDifferent WorldsI Am StrongYoung Mother
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Create image