If it hadn’t been for the Volkswagen that didn’t work, we never would have looked for the mechanic who became the husband who became the stepfather who became the man who tortured us for years and put a bullet in the back of my mother’s head …”
-- The Author (Trevor Noah) (Part 1, Section 1)

Importance: This quote is an initial reference to an ongoing motif in the book: the author's association of secondhand cars (such as the Volkswagen referred to here) with bad things in his life (such as the presence of the man he here describes). On another level, the reference to this man (Abel) foreshadows later references to the man's violence, including his role in the events that define the book's overall climax.

Where most children are proof of their parents’ love, I was the proof of their criminality.
-- The Author (Trevor Noah) (Part 1, Section 1)

Importance: In this pithy quote, which clearly relates to the book's title, the author sums up...