There ain’t nothing but Noise in this world, nothing but the constant thoughts of men and things coming at you and at you and at you, ever since the spacks released the Noise germ during the war, the germ that killed half the men and every single woman, my ma not expected, the germ that drove the rest of the men mad, the germ that spelled the end for all Spackle once men’s madness picked up a gun.
-- Todd (Chapter 1 )

Importance: This quote in the first chapter helps to set up the unique setting of the book. Todd discovering the truth about the Noise is one of the driving plot points throughout the book.

And then one day Mayor Prentiss decided to burn all the books, every single one of them, even the ones in men’s homes, cuz apparently books were detrimental as well and Mr. Royal, a soft man...
-- Todd (Chapter 2)