Abby

“You won't die, Francie. You were born to lick this rotten life.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“And that's where the whole trouble is. We're too much alike to understand each other because we don't even understand our own selves.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“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

“From that moment on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again. ”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn