Politics is always personal, my dear, she said. That’s what makes it deadly.
-- The Sympathizer's aunt (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote serves as an organizing concept for the novel, which is the impossibility of separating politics from one’s sense of identity or personhood. One of the novel’s central questions is its interrogation of The Sympathizer’s willingness to believe in nothing; the idea that there is no means of separating ideology from personal redemption serves to throw his apathy about political questions into a different light. Beyond that, it quickly establishes The Sympathizer’s aunt as a sharp, discerning critic of his worldview.

I, who could sympathize with anyone, wanted more than anything for someone to sympathize with me.
-- The Sympathizer (chapter 3)

Importance: The Sympathizer’s feeling of unbelonging informs many of the decisions he makes throughout the novel, and it is articulated well by this quote, in which The Sympathizer expresses a helpless feeling that his...