I didn't believe in God. I was an atheist. But there I was on my knees.”
-- Joy (chapter 1)

Importance: This is the moment Joy becomes a believer.

Motherhood is selfless. Writing is selfish. The clash of these two unyielding truths creates a thin tightrope, one I fall off of daily, damaging all of us.”
-- Joy (chapter 4)

Importance: Joy sums up her ideas about balancing motherhood with the demands of being a writer. She seems to find a better balance once she moves to England, especially when she spends time at the Kilns.

You see, fiction is always in a straight line, congruent if you will. But life isn't. This is how we know the gospels are real; they don't read like fiction.”
-- Joy (chapter 5)

Importance: This is one of several logical arguments Joy has to support her belief in God. As often happens with her, she turns to literature as a basis for her argument.

Love. It's a complicated...
-- Joy (chapter 15)