I’m sitting here in nothing. And better to be sitting in nothing than in something that isn’t anything!
-- Pierre Anthon (IV)

Importance: Pierre yells this quote down at the rest of his peers as he sits in the plum tree. He has renounced basically every pursuit, claiming that nothing has any inherent meaning. Up in his tree, he surveys his surroundings and likens them to nothing. This quote also shows how he believes he is morally superior as a result of what he believes; it sounds like he thinks he has reached a higher plane of intelligence than the rest of the students, who are still bogged down by trying to find meaning in their lives.

The rose, however, made us girls somewhat fainthearted, because it really was something we felt mattered, the white bridal dream with the wedding bouquet and the kiss from the man who was to be ours forever...
-- Narrator (V)