There was a pattern between them of her getting blue and of him helping her.
-- Corey (Woman, Earth, Sun and Richard Feynman)

Importance: This quote from Chapter 1 describes how Corey, even as a child, tends to his mother. This demonstrates Corey's capacity for empathy for his mother, and also reveals her own neediness. This foreshadows the extreme extent to which Corey will eventually care for his mother through her diagnosis.

He was always away, always disappearing, always occupied, always involved in something, but she had a feeling it was nothing after all.
-- Gloria (Woman, Earth, Sun and Richard Feynman)

Importance: This quote from Chapter 1 reveals Gloria's skepticism of Leonard. The reader does not explicitly learn of Leonard's idleness until later in the novel; in the beginning, it is unclear what he does for work. Leonard dons a superior attitude towards Gloria and Corey, though. This quote foreshadows the eventual discovery of the facade Leonard adopts to mask the truth of his idleness and failures.

They were...
-- Corey (The Hibbards)