The purpose of science is to find out where the limits of possibility end. When we have achieved that – and we shall – there will be no more magic, no more superstition, there will just be what is.”
-- Tom (London, 1860 )

Importance: Tom knew that many things have been considered impossible until they were proven. Then, those things were touted as possible. He made this point to indicate that people will eventually accept that some people live long lives.

Ignorance changes over time. But it is always there, and it remains just as lethal.”
-- Agnes (Atlantic Ocean, 1891 )

Importance: This is part of an early conversation between Agnes and Tom. Tom argued that there were no more witchhunters, but Agnes cited the same arguments Hendrich used – that scientists and others had become even more dangerous than the witchhunters of centuries earlier.

This is the chief comfort of being four hundred and thirty-nine years old. You understand quite completely that the...
-- Tom (London, now )