Quotessence
Home / Authors / Betty Smith
Betty Smith

Betty Smith Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleBrooklynChildrenLittlesBookReadingSufferingWorldGrowing UpMenFirstsMadeTreeWantBeautifulHardHeartIfsKnowsThinking

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
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

“The library was a little old shaby place. Francie thought it was beautiful. The feeling she had about it was as good as the feeling she had about church. She pushed open the door and went in. She liked the cmbined smell of worn leather bindings, library past and freshly inked stamping pads better than she liked the smell of burning incense at high mass.”

LittlesFeelingsPastBeautifulChurchDoorsMassLibrarySmellBurningWornLeatherBindingPadsIncense
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Create image

“She went out and took a last long look at the shabby little library. She knew she would never see it again. Eyes changed after they looked at new things. If in the years to be she were to come back, her new eyes might make everything seem different from the way she saw it now. The way it was now was the way she wanted to remember it.”

IfsWayYearsLooksLittlesLongDifferentSeemsMightEyeWantedLastsRememberSawsChangedLibraryNew ThingsShabbyNew Eyes
Book:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Create image

“Francie was ten years old when she first found an outlet in writing. What she wrote was of little consequence. What was important was that the attempt to write stories kept her straight on the dividing line between truth and fiction. If she had not found this outlet in writing, she might have grown up to be a tremendous liar.”

IfsWritingYearsFirstsLittlesImportantStoriesMightFoundLinesFictionTenConsequenceLiarsOutletsDividing
Book:A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN MAGGIE NOW
Create image