- Mature Jennifer Worth: [ending diary monologue] Not all of us can choose what we give up. The things we love are taken, or never ours at all. Life is defined not by what we let go, but what we let in: friendship and kind words, frailty and hope. To be human is to be imperfect, and to accept that is to thrive. No path is always strewn with flowers, but there in lies the power of each fragile, tender bloom.
- Sister Monica Joan: It is not the penance that we choose that is pleasing to God... it is the setting aside of ego and the submission to His will.
- Sister Julienne: So, I must accept the world as it is, not as I would wish it to be?
- Sister Monica Joan: To do otherwise would be a disservice to those you would assist.
- Mature Jennifer Worth: [opening diary monologue] During Lent we give up the things we love. We repent and make sacrifices - even the altar must go without flowers. We deny ourselves pleasure: we forego cake, coffee, biscuits, sugar in our teeth, or try to. We promise to forbid ourselves cigarettes, and when we fail, we are policed by fellow penitents. Enjoyment itself is contraband, much is ruined in pursuit of self-improvement, and we are all exposed as very far from perfect.