I wrote about people who liked fake fireplaces in their parlor, who thought a brass horse with a clock embedded in its flank was wonderful.

Some people do crossword puzzles. I do books.

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.

She had had the pain; it had been like being boiled alive in scalding oil and not being able to die to get free of it

New York! I've always wanted to see it and now I've see it. It's true what they say-- it's the most wonderful city in the world.

Look at everything as though you are seeing it for the first time.

Someday you'll remember what I said and you'll thank me for it." Francie wished adults would stop telling her that. Already the load of thanks in the future was weighing her down. She figured she'd have to spend the best years of her womanhood hunting up people to tell them that they were right and to thank them.