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Betty Smith

Betty Smith Quotes

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Famous Betty Smith Quotes

“Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere - be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.”

WellsLittlesDreamLostHoursPrayerSleepSinToo MuchPiecesSadnessMinutesColdGayLet MeBlessedDearWarmHungryLiarsSincereTruthfulHonorableBrooklynDear GodBeing TruthfulDeceitfulRaggedWell Dressed
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
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“There's a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree which struggles to reach the sky. It grows in boarded-up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps. It grows up out of cellar gratings. It is the only tree that grows out of cement. It grows lushly . . . survives without sun, water, and seemingly without earth. It would be considered beautiful except that there are too many of it.”

PeopleMatterWould BeEarthBeautifulFallHeavenGrowsWaterStruggleSunGrowing UpTreeSkySeedsNeglectedBrooklynRubbishCementCellars
Author:Betty Smith
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“You took a walk on a Sunday afternoon and came to a nice neighborhood, very refined. You saw a small one of these trees through the iron gate leading to someone's yard and you knew that soon that section of Brooklyn would get to be a tenement district. The tree knew. It came there first. Afterwards, poor foreigners seeped in and the quiet old brownstone houses were hacked up into flats, feather beds were pushed out on the window sills to air and the Tree of Heaven flourished. That was the kind of tree it was. It liked poor people.”

PeopleFirstsKindHouseHeavenWalksPoorSawsNiceAirTreeBedQuietWindowNeighborhoodSundayIronFlatsGatesAfternoonYardsSectionsPoor PeopleFeathersForeignersBrooklynRefinedHackedSunday AfternoonsTenements
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
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“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." "But you're still a Brooklynite." "I wouldn't want that to get around, Annie." "You don't mean that, Carl." "Ah, we might as well call them beanies, Annie." "Why?" "When in Rome do as the Romans do." "Do they call them beanies in Rome?" she asked artlessly. "This is the silliest conversation.”

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Author:Betty Smith
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“Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber as a word was better. But it did not apply to Williamsburg Brooklyn. Prairie was lovely and Shenandoah had a beautiful sound but you couldn't fit those words into Brooklyn. Serene was the only word for it especially on a Saturday afternoon in summer.”

BeautifulSoundNew YorkFitSummerLovelyAfternoonSaturdayBrooklynSerenePrairieSomberSaturday AfternoonBrooklyn New YorkWilliamsburg
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
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