Emily

“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.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

“It always comes back to our insecurities, as we say, "Oh, I'm not as good as you." So instead of accepting that perhaps I am not as good as someone else in some ways and being comfortable with who I am as I am, I spend all my time denigrating you, trying to cut you down to my self-perceived size. The sad problem is that we see ourselves as being quite terribly small. Instead of spending my time being envious, I need to celebrate your and my different gifts, even if mine are perhaps less spectacular than yours.”
― Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time

“Laurie's going to have a mighty easy life all right.
Annie Laurie McShane! She'll never have the hard times we had, will she?
No. And she'll never have the fun we had, either.
"Gosh! We did have fun, didn't we, Neeley?"
Yeah!
Poor Laurie, said Francie pityingly.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn