If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.
-- Elderly Woman (Chapter 1 paragraph 1)

Importance: These are the opening lines of the novel spoken by Vianne as an elderly woman. The reader does not yet know who the elderly woman is. These lines introduce two of the themes of the book, love and war. In the end, the author reveals that the elderly woman is Vianne and she clearly became the brave woman she is when she began saving Jewish children during the war.

You'd be surprised the things I know, Gaetan. There is more than one kind of prison.
-- Isabelle (Chapter 6 paragraph 14)

Importance: Isabelle says this to Gaetan when he tells her she wouldn't know what it's like to be in prison like he does. Isabelle is referring to the "prison" she's been in as a...