...if they'd been paying more attention or were on speaking terms with his mother, they'd have known he wasn't going to be allowed back to his old school anyway, and also that his mother had kicked him out of the house. But does a person have to be either admirable or awful? Does life have to be so binary?
-- Paul (chapter 2)

Importance: Paul recalls returning to Caiette to help his father look after Vincent in the aftermath of her mother's death and trying to feel good about himself for doing so, despite the recent trouble he had been in. This demonstrates that one of Paul's major problems is a lack of confidence in himself, which manifests as a self-loathing that drives him to drug use. This quote also could be applied to many of the characters in the novel who behave in morally ambiguous ways, such as Jonathan's co-workers.

He'd purposely drunk one...
-- Leon (chapter 3)