How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Your next world is your next world, and not to be squandered offhand." (42.33)
When he reflects on some of the bad things he's done in his life, Joseph Poorgrass decides that, when all is said and done, he knows there'll be some time after death when he'll have to account for himself. And in this sense, he feels like he should straighten up and act better, because he doesn't want to waste his one shot at a good afterlife.
Quote #8
The vision of Oak kneeling down that night recurred to her, and with the imitative instinct which animates women she seized upon the idea, resolved to kneel and if possible, pray. Gabriel had prayed; so would she. (43.50)
After seeing Gabriel praying through his bedroom window, Bathsheba feels like praying isn't such a bad idea. She has many of her own troubles to worry about, like the apparent death of her husband and the series of aggressive proposals from Farmer Boldwood. If praying is good enough for a nice man like Gabriel, reasons Bathsheba, it's good enough for her.
Quote #9
He turned to Fanny then. "But never mind darling," he said; "in the sight of heaven you are my very very wife." (43.76)
Even an immoral guy like Sergeant Troy believes in heaven. This is England in the 1870s, guys. If you weren't Christian, you weren't anything. This scene (where Troy is talking to his dead ex-lover and dead child, so sad) is pretty much the one moment we see Troy act like a flesh-and-blood human instead of a callous robot.