No, war would’ve been good for you if you didn’t get killed, would’ve given you a subject, a fucking plot. Think of Hemingway and Mailer. Without WW Two, Mailer is nothing but a genius momma’s boy who wants to hang with made guys and boxers, and poor Hemingway, even with the war, he’s really only known as another wannabe tough-guy boxer bullfighter backstage Johnny with a smoking-hot granddaughter in a soon-to-be-released Woody Allen film. But war is good for art. War is good for industry and fiction.”
-- Andrew Blaugrund (Chapter 6)

Importance: This quote is a comment on the 20th century view of what leads to good writing. Andrew theorizes that Ted has not seen enough trauma to write about something notable.

This is a fruitless imagining. There is only science.”
-- Narrator (Chapter 11)

Importance: The nameless father finally decides that he cannot help his son. Instead, he must leave it to science.

He...
-- Narrator (Chapter 12)