The world will never be the same.
-- Narrator (Prologue paragraph 23)

Importance: This quote is the last line in the prologue. The quote refers both to the fact that a nuclear war has just begun and to the dystopian societies that will spring out of the ashes.

After forty plus generations of international scientists mixing their DNA down here, most people look about the same: average height, dark hair, dark eyes. But not me.
-- Aubrey (Chapter 1 paragraph 6)

Importance: This quote not only gives the reader an idea about the origins of Holocene II, but it also shows the reader that Aubrey is different. This will explain how his DNA stood out to the Radcliffe's when later in the plot the reader learns Aubrey was chosen to go to Level I not because of his perfect test score but because of his DNA.

My father's work has taken him up to the Transfer Station on Level 2, even once or twice...
-- Aubrey (Chapter 4 paragraph 5)