The witch burned.
-- Cassandra (Prologue paragraph 1)

Importance: This is the first line of the novel, and it aptly expresses who Cassandra believes herself to be.

When the cholera struck, the children had been taken ill very suddenly. He remembered his wife’s face as she wept over the bodies of the children he had been unable to save.
-- Dr. Wintermute (Chapter 6 paragraph 7)

Importance: This quote shows Dr. Wintermute’s guilt in relation to the deaths of his children.

Only the night before, she had spoken of her fear of cold and darkness; now darkness and cold claimed her, and she was not afraid.
-- Clara (Chapter 9 paragraph 44)

Importance: This quote shows Clara’s state of mind a short time after she disappears from her home, suggesting she is not in distress or being hurt.

Dr. Wintermute thought of how Clara had dreaded visiting this place, and he set his jaw. If Clara came back to him alive, he would see to it that she...
-- Dr. Wintermute (Chapter 12 paragraph 2)