When I was twenty-two…I’d already been married, fathered a child, and gotten divorced.
-- Leonard Fife (chapter 5)

Importance: Fife directs this statement to Sloan, the 22-year-old woman who is working as Malcolm's assistant. This line of dialogue constitutes the first allusion to Fife's first marriage and first child. These events and this timeline represent the frequency/magnitude of Fife's personal regrets and past mistakes.

He never loved her. She loved him, and he married her for it, to hold on to it and reward her for it.
-- Narration (chapter 10)

Importance: These lines of narration reflect Fife's present thoughts about his first wife, Amy. At the time, Fife married her because he thought he was in love with her. However, he later realized that he simply enjoyed the fact that she was in love with him. His motivation for leaving her appeared to be this realization.

It’s the medications. Sometimes he confabulates. Like he’s dreaming...
-- Emma Flynn (chapter 11)