Twenty meters away, Pasquale Tursi watched the arrival of the woman as if in a dream. Or rather, he would think later, a dream's opposite: a burst of clarity after a lifetime of sleep.
-- Pasquale (Chapter 1 paragraph 2)

Importance: This is the first moment Pasquale sees Dee Moray. It will be this moment that begins the journey that will reunite Pasquale and Dee fifty years later.

Michael's constantly urging her to adjust her expectations, to set aside her highbrow pretensions, to accept the culture on its own terms, to expand her notions of what's good.
-- Claire Silver (Chapter 2 paragraph 11)

Importance: This expresses Claire's frustration with Deane as he continuously refuses every project she thinks is good. The reader will later realize that Deane was doing this to help him get out of his contract with the studio by only presenting to them bad ideas.

I should have been pleased merely to be alive, but I was int he deepest misery...
-- Alvis Bender (Chapter 4 paragraph 2)