Betty Smith
Betty Smith
Betty Smith, née Elisabeth Wehner, was an American author...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth15 December 1896
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Betty Smith quotes about
children cities important
The neighborhood stores are an important part of a city child's life.
beautiful brooklyn dear-god
'Dear God,' she prayed, 'let me be something every minute of every hour of my life.'
wall flower book
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. . . .
inspirational forgiveness cost
Forgiveness is a gift of high value. Yet its cost is nothing.
hunting years people
Someday you'll remember what I said and you'll thank me for it." Francie wished adults would stop telling her that. Already the load of thanks in the future was weighing her down. She figured she'd have to spend the best years of her womanhood hunting up people to tell them that they were right and to thank them.
magic
And always, there was the magic of learning things.
lying mean should-have
A lie was something you told because you were mean or a coward. A story was something you made up out of something that might have happened. Only you didn't tell it like it was, you told it like you thought it should have been.
book hard-work smell
But the penciled sheets did not seem like nor smell like the library book so she had given it up, consoling herself with the vow that when she grew up, she would work hard, save money and buy every single book that she liked.
two differences survival
Katie had a fierce desire for survival which made her a fighter. Johnny had a hankering after immortality which made him a useless dreamer. And that was the great difference between these two who loved each other so well.
perspective looks firsts
Look at everything as though you are seeing it for the first time.
long suffering gone
As long as one can suffer, one is living....live and suffer until life is gone.
fall struggle sky
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.
dies
It takes a lot of doing to die.
two people quarrels
Bad quarrels come when two people are wrong. Worse quarrels come when two people are right.