It was the last time she'd see the river from that window. The last time of anything has the poignancy of death itself. This that I see now, she thought, to see no more this way. Oh, the last time how clearly you see everything; as though a magnifying light had been turned on it. And you grieve because you hadn't held it tighter when you had it every day.
("A Tree Grows in Brooklyn")
More Quotes from Betty Smith:
Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong. My children will be strong that way.Betty Smith
Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first time or the last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.
Betty Smith
Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber as a word was better. But it did not apply to Williamsburg Brooklyn. Prairie was lovely and Shenandoah had a beautiful sound but you couldn't fit those words into Brooklyn. Serene was the only word for it especially on a Saturday afternoon in summer.
Betty Smith
Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words.
Betty Smith
If there was only one tree like that in the world, you would think it was beautiful. But because there are so many, you just can't see how beautiful it really is.
Betty Smith
She went out and took a last long look at the shabby little library. She knew she would never see it again. Eyes changed after they looked at new things. If in the years to be she were to come back, her new eyes might make everything seem different from the way she saw it now. The way it was now was the way she wanted to remember it.
Betty Smith
Readers Who Like This Quotation Also Like:
Based on Topics: Death & Dying Quotes, Mind Quotes, Thought & Thinking Quotes, Time QuotesBased on Keywords: hadn, poignancy
In war, you win or lose, live or die - and the difference is just an eyelash.
Douglas MacArthur
I always admired virtue - but I could never imitate it.
Charles II
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley