It wasn't important who the guy was. The only thing that mattered was that I existed with someone, there in those dark streets of the city, and that was why I was wrestling tongues with a stranger.
-- Young (Part I, Chapter 1 paragraph 4)

Importance: This quote gives the reader insight into Young's personality and motivations in Part I, when he is 20 years old. He is not interested in having a romantic relationship, but he frequently goes out to bars to meet men for sexual encounters. When Young says that the only thing that matters is that he exists with someone, it suggests that he feels validated by this attention from men, and perhaps that he requires this validation because of a lack of self-confidence.

We met whatever men we wanted without putting much effort into it, drank ourselves torpid, and in the morning met in each other's rooms to apply cosmetic masks to our swollen faces and...
-- Young (Part I, Chapter 1 paragraph 1)