Trinity

“In her mind’s eye, Rakel glimpses a little girl taking a walk with her parents. Pappa first, the little girl close at his heels. Mamma farther back, bringing up the rear. But then the little girl stops and waits to make sure that Mamma doesn’t end up too far behind. Pappa simply hurries on. So she ends up walking alone, roughly halfway between Pappa and Mamma. There’s a stretch of fifty yards or so between them.”
― Klara Hveberg, Lean Your Loneliness Slowly Against Mine

“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 for living in, the child can reach back and live in her imagination. I, myself, even in this day and at my age, have great need of recalling the miraculous lives of the Saints and the great miracles that have come to pass on earth. Only by having these things in my mind can I live beyond what I have to live for.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

“Mother, I am young. Mother, I am just eighteen. I am strong. I will work hard, Mother. But I do not want this child to grow up just to work hard. What must I do, mother, what must I do to make a different world for her? How do I start?"

"The secret lies in the reading and the writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read. Then she must read every day, I know this is the secret”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn