- Rev. Applebee-Thornton: It was in the silences at the dinner table that I felt my parents' hatred for each other. So, I grew accustomed to filling them. I know it can be difficult to bear. At boarding school I was often without company. I talk, so that I won't know what the silence holds.
- Mature Jenny: [narrating] Sometimes in life, one has to take a chance. Without risk, there's no possibility. Without potential loss, no prize.
- Sister Evangelina: But the child will more often than not have no bowel control, will have renal complications and a drastically reduced lifespan and, for the rest of that short life, it will be confined to a wheelchair.
- Sister Julienne: Life is never without hope, Sister.
- [Sister Julienne said it first. Nurse Lee repeats it later as she continues to learn and grow]
- [first lines]
- Mature Jenny: [narrating] By the time I'd been in Poplar for a year, I'd begun to see myself as rather bold. Coming to examine me? Dank alleys did not frighten me, and neither did their occupants. But did I really take risks? Did I really look beyond the surface, to the darker things beneath? My uniform was my armour. And there was much about the East End that I did not need to know. Much about life I had yet to encounter. It was a safe bet that surprises lay in store.
- Rev. Applebee-Thornton: [nervously] Should I perhaps tidy round a little? Would that be useful?
- Mr. Giddings: No. Does my house offend you, Vicar?
- Rev. Applebee-Thornton: Oh, it's Reverend, actually. No, it does not.
- Mr. Giddings: Well, it bloody well does, me.