Saying one's prayers isn't exactly the same thing as praying.

I can't cheer up — I don't want to cheer up. It's nicer to be miserable!

Human nature is not obliged to be consistent.

How wicked I was to wish that something dramatic would happen!' she thought. 'Oh, if we could only have those dear, monotonous, pleasant days back again! I would *never* grumble about them again.

...the sorrows God sent us brought comfort and strength with them, while the sorrows we brought on ourselves, through folly or wickedness, were by far the hardest to bear.

I know you're a fool, Jim Hardy, but for heaven's sake pretend you're not for five minutes.

There is no use in loving things if you have to be torn from them, is there? And it's so hard to keep from loving things, isn't it?