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
mother country children
And you must tell the child the legends I told you--as my mother told them to me and her mother to her. You must tell the fairy tales of the old country. You must tell of those not of the earth who live forever in the hearts of the people...
school eye tiny
She was surprised at how tiny the school seemed now. She supposed it was just as big as it had ever been only her eyes had grown used to looking at bigger things.
children war heart
Intolerance is a thing that causes war, pogroms, crucifixions, lynchings, and makes people cruel to little children and each other. It is responsible for most of the viciousness, violence, terror, and heart and soul breaking of the world.
sky people tree
No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky. It grew in boarded-up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps, and it was the only tree that grew out of cement. It grew lushly, but only in the tenements districts.... That was the kind of tree it was. It liked poor people.
compassion suffering anguish
They learned no compassion from their own anguish. thus their suffering was wasted.
believe giving dont-believe
I can never give a 'yes' or a 'no.' I don't believe everything in life can be settled by a monosyllable.
suffering rich persons
Suffering is also good, it makes a person rich in charachter.
beautiful feet long
Francie looked at her legs. They were long, slender, and exquisitely molded. She wore the sheerest of flawless silk stockings, and expensively made high-heeled pumps shod her beautifully arched feet. "Beautiful legs, then, is the secret of being a mistriss," concluded Francie. She looked down at her own long thin legs. "I'll never make it, I guess." Sighing , she resigned herself to a sinless life.
men littles wells
Well, there's a little bit of man in every woman and a little bit of woman in every man.
life live-life kind
All of us are what we have to be and everyone lives the kind of life its in him to live.
liars writing years
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.
hands differences rich
The difference between rich and poor", said Francie, "is that the poor do everything with thier own hands and the rich hire hands to do things.
writing long firsts
It doesn't take long to write things of which you know nothing. When you write of actual things, it takes longer, because you have to live them first.
girl names brooklyn
It meant that she belonged some place. She was a Brooklyn girl with a Brooklyn name and a Brooklyn accent. She didn't want to change into a bit of this and a bit of that.