“Many would be willing to have afflictions provided that they not be inconvenienced by them.”

“That is human nature, that people come after you, willingly enough, provided only that you no longer love or want them.”

“The saints should always remember that God sees not as man sees; that he does not willingly afflict his children, and that if he requires them to endure present privation and trial, it is that they may escape greater tribulations which would otherwise inevitably overtake them. If He deprives them of any present blessing, it is that he may bestow upon them greater and more glorious ones by-and by.”

“For 'we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.' And 'many are the afflictions of the righteous.'" "But the Lord delivereth him out of them all,”

“You have a right to feel the universe is willing to provide you with blessings, but not to the point that it cannot do without you.”

“...with the flat smile of the deeply inconvenienced.”