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1492cf0
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I wait for death with the courage I gained from living.
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Betty Smith |
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616cbfb
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This could be a whole life," she thought. "You work eight hours a day covering wires to earn money to buy food and to pay for a place to sleep so that you can keep living to come back to cover more wires. Some people are born and kept living just to came to this. Of course, some of these girls will marry; marry men who have the same kind of life. What will they gain? They'll gain someone to hold conversations within the few hours at night b..
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Betty Smith |
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6e32804
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But there was no music in the children. Evy took the bull by the horns. They would have to love music whether they wanted to or not. If talent wasn't born in them, maybe it could be shoved in at so much per hour.
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Betty Smith |
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c674fbf
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the fabric of family, the limits of love, the loss of innocence and the birth of knowledge.
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Betty Smith |
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299d236
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Last time of anything has the poignancy of death itself
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Betty Smith |
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266ec6c
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It is good thing to learn the truth one's self. To first believe with all your heart, and then not to believe, is good too. It fattens the emotions and makes them to stretch. When as a woman life and people disappoint her, she will have had practice in disappointment and it will not come so hard. In teaching your child do not forget that suffering is good too. It makes a person rich in character.
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suffering
truth
rich-character
emotions
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Betty Smith |
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3c9e0d4
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Poor people have a great passion for huge quantities of things.
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Betty Smith |
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5b3d9ef
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That is the book, then, and the book of Shakespeare. And every day you must read a page of each to your child--even though you yourself do not understand what is written down and cannot sound the words properly. You must do this that the child will grow up knowing of what is great--knowing that these tenements of Williamsburg are not the whole world." "The Protestant Bible and Shakespeare."
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Betty Smith |
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a08a9bb
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Maybe they knew their own gift of imagination colored too rosily the poverty and brutality of their lives and made them able to endure it.
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Betty Smith |
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4d7c4cf
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Tell the truth and write the story.
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Betty Smith |
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2b4b54d
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You betcha they'd live, thought Francie grimly. It takes a lot of doing to die.
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Betty Smith |
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72584df
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Look at everything as though you were seeing it either first time or last time.
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time
life-lessons
perspective
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Betty Smith |
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bd7a86e
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Francie always remembered what the kind teacher told her. 'You know, Francie, a lot of people would think that these stories that you're making up all the time were terrible lies because they are not the truth as people see the truth. In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think it should have happened. Tell the truth and write the story. Then you won't get mixed up.'..
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Betty Smith |
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caa97cb
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In spite of hard unfamiliar things, there is here--hope. In the old country, a man can be no more than his father, providing he works hard. If his father was a carpenter, he may be a carpenter. He may not be a teacher or a priest. He may rise--but only to his father's state. In the old country, a man is given to the past. Here he belongs to the future. In this land, he may be what he will, if he has the good heart and the way of working hon..
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Betty Smith |
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28e8827
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I know there is no Santa Claus." "Yet you must teach the child that these things are so." "Why? When I, myself, do not believe?" "Because," explained Mary Rommely simply, "the child must have a valuable thing which is called imagination. The child must have a secret world in which live things that never were. It is necessary that she believe. She must start out by believing in things not of this world. Then when the world becomes too ugly f..
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Betty Smith |
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bb1fa87
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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 staggering home drunk
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Betty Smith |
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9709d57
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The difference was that Flossie Gaddis was starved about men and Sissy was healthily hungry about them. And what a difference that made.
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Betty Smith |
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f3ff78e
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She knew from listening to her grandmother that old age was made up of such remembrances of youth. But she didn't want to recall things. She wanted to live things--or as a compromise, re-live rather than reminisce. She decided to fix this time in her life exactly the way it was this instant. Perhaps that way she could hold on to it as a living thing and not have it become something called a memory.
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Betty Smith |
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c42fd17
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Why? When I, myself do not believe? "Because,"explained Mary Rommely simply, "the child must have a valuable thing which is called imagination. The child must have a secret world in which live things that never were. t is necessary that she believe. She must start out believing in things not of this world. Then when the world becomes too ugly for living in, the child can reach back and live in her imagination. I , myself, even in this day a..
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Betty Smith |
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d440904
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She wept when they gave birth to daughters, knowing that to be born a woman meant a life of humble hardship.
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Betty Smith |
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5f631d2
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From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence, and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography.
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Betty Smith |
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52113a7
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Oh, and you must not forget the Kris Kringle. The child must believe in him until she reaches the age of six." "Mother, I know there are no ghosts or fairies. I would be teaching the child foolish lies." Mary spoke sharply. "You do not know whether there are not ghosts on earth or angels in heaven." "I know there is no Santa Claus." "Yet you must teach the child that these things are so." "Why? When I, myself, do not believe?" "Because," ex..
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Betty Smith |
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d0aa789
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Ghosts are not always those who pass through closed doors," said Mary Rommely. "Katie has told how her husband used to talk to this saloon man. In all those years of the talking, Yohnny gave away pieces of himself to this man. When Katie called on her man for help, the pieces of him came together in this man, and it was Yohnny within the saloon man's soul that heard and came to her help."
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Betty Smith |
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0cca53f
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Oh, and you must not forget the Kris Kringle. The child must believe in him until she reaches the age of six." " I KNOW there is not Santa Claus." "Yet you must teach the child that these things are so." "Why? When I, myself, do not believe?" "Because...the child must have a valuable things which is called imagination. The child must have a secret world in which [to] live things that never were. It is necessary that she BELIEVE. She must st..
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imagination
childhood-imagination
santa-claus
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Betty Smith |
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69857b9
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A person who pulls himself up from a low environment via the boot strap route has two choices. Having risen above his environment, he can forget it; or, he can rise above it and never forget it and keep compassion and understanding in his heart for those he has left behind him in the cruel up climb.
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rising-above-it
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Betty Smith |
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daa2436
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Sometimes when you had nothing at all and it was raining and you were alone in the flat, it was wonderful to know that you could have something even though it was only a cup of black and bitter coffee.
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poverty
coffee-quotes
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Betty Smith |
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b29f4b0
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Arriving at the store, she walked up and down the aisles handling any object her fancy favored. What a wonderful feeling to pick something up, hold it for a moment, feel its contour, run her hand over its surface and then replace it carefully. Her nickel gave her this privilege. If a floor-walker asked whether she intended buying anything, she could say, yes, buy it and show him a thing or two. Money was a wonderful thing, she decided.
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Betty Smith |
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2d12ab9
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Neeley, if you had to die, wouldn't it be wonderful to die now--while you believed that everything was perfect, the way this night is perfect?
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Betty Smith |
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db5c5b0
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All she'd notice was that some things were strange because they reminded her of Brooklyn and that other things were strange because they were so different from Brooklyn. "I guess there is nothing new, then, in the world," decided Francie unhappily. "If there is anything new or different, some part of it must be in Brooklyn and I must be used to it and wouldn't be able to notice it if I came across it."
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Betty Smith |
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481dd43
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Before you die, you must own a bit of land--maybe with a house on it that your child or your children may inherit." Katie laughed. "Me own land? A house? We're lucky if we can pay our rent."
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Betty Smith |
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59d251d
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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....
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Betty Smith |
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3a97388
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Run, run, you fool, before the waves of hurt start breaking.
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Betty Smith |
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bb492fd
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They were all slender, frail creatures with wondering eyes and soft fluttery voices. But they were all made out of thin invisible steel.
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women
inspirational
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Betty Smith |
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ae0555c
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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 pie..
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Betty Smith |
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d8bf3a9
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A small child has little idea of the future. Next week is as far ahead as his future stretches and the year between Christmas and Christmas again is an eternity.
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Betty Smith |
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61d4fb8
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It there's one thing certain, it's that we all have to get old someday. So get used to the idea as quickly as you can.
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Betty Smith |
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88b5d55
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Dear God,' she prayed, 'let me be something every minute of every hour of my life.
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prayer
god
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Betty Smith |
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a9cf172
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But I saved it for you because I know your mama likes tongue and I like your mama. You
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Betty Smith |
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3565de1
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And the child, Francie Nolan, was of all the Rommelys and all the Nolans. She had the violent weaknesses and passion for beauty of the shanty Nolans. She was a mosaic of her grandmother Rommely's mysticism, her tale-telling, her great belief in everything and her compassion for the weak ones. She had a lot of her grandfather Rommely's cruel will. She had some of her Aunt Evy's talent for mimicking, some of Ruthie Nolan's possessiveness. She..
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Betty Smith |
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485c997
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She wanted to shout it out. She could read! She could read! From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to s..
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Betty Smith |
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07bd3d5
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When I grow up and know that I am going to have a baby, I will remember to walk proud and slow..
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Betty Smith |
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4b8e264
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And Francie whispered yeah in agreement. She was proud of that smell. It let her know that nearby was a waterway, which, dirty though it was, joined a river that flowed out to the sea. To her, the stupendous stench suggested far-sailing ships and adventure and she was pleased with the smell.
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Betty Smith |
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b3ce360
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I need someone," thought Francie desperately. "I need someone. I need to hold somebody close. And I need more than this holding. I need someone to understand how I feel at a time like now. And the understading must be part of the holding."
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Betty Smith |
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1772888
|
It was one of the links between the ground-down poor and the wasteful rich. The girl felt that even if she had less than anybody in Williamsburg, somehow she had more. She was richer because she had something to waste.
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pride
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Betty Smith |