Writing does not exist unless there is someone there to read it, and each reader will take something different from a novel, from a chapter, from a line.”
-- Gil (chapter 4)

Importance: Gil’s belief that everyone interprets text differently speaks to Swimming Lessons’ ambiguity and characters’ struggle to interpret and accept Ingrid’s disappearance. This quotation also addresses how Ingrid’s final letter went unread and contains the truth of her disappearance.

But often the only way to see how a reader thought, how they lived when they were reading, is to examine what they left behind.
-- Gil (chapter 17)

Importance: This quotation refers to marginalia but encapsulates how Ingrid’s letters impacted her life as well as Gil’s. Ingrid leaves her letters behind to help Gil understand the events, thoughts, and emotions that precipitated her suicide.

It’s taken me a long time to realize, but I don’t think it’s good to have...
-- Gil (chapter 17)