He was feeling fine.
-- Narrator ("When We All Get to Heaven")

Importance: While wandering solo through the streets of Manhattan, Ed is overcome by the noise and liveliness of the city. The above line repeats in a variety of iterations throughout his day in New York, thus illustrating Ed's attempts to convince himself that he is indeed content with his life, and with himself. However, this sentence gradually deconstructs and fragments itself over the course of the narrative, suggesting that Ed has not had a similar opportunity for self-reflection in a long time. By the end of the narrative he shifts back into memory, finally considering who he really is and what he actually feels.

He had been like the buildings of his childhood—just there.
-- Narrator ("I Thought I Heard the Shuffle of Angels' Feet")

Importance: After his car breaks down on the side of the Tims Creek highway, Cicero reencounters with his former high school lover, Tony, for the first time in years. The old friends end...