Life is not a novel. Or at least you would like to believe so.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: This is the first line of the novel, and opens things up by calling into question the nature of reality and fiction. This is the overriding theme of the entire book, and by the end, this uncertainty takes on epic proportions.

Everything suggests that in reality semiology is one of the most important inventions in the history of humanity and one of the most powerful tools ever forged by man.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote lays out the importance of semiology, not only to the novel, but to the construction of reality itself. It lets the reader know the theoretical basis on which the novel will function.

I see him at the Sorbon, the bar opposite the Champo, the little arthouse cinema at the bottom of Rue des Écoles. But, in all honesty, I don't have a clue: you...
-- Narrator (chapter 1)