In those days a bunch of us went around together drinking too much coffee and smoking too much cannabis and talking all the time about poetry and Nietzsche and bebop.”
-- Cliff (chapter 1 paragraph 1)

Importance: This quote sets the stage for the rest of the story. It captures the spirit of the beat generation, a group of rebellious post-war youth that pushed forward new ideas, fueled by coffee, drugs, and jazz.

All the energy of the war effort was nor poured into the manufacture of neon signs, shiny chrome bumpers, bright plastic things, and that meant all of a sudden there was a violent shade of Formica to match every desire. All of it was for sale and people had lots of dough to spend and to top it off the atom bomb was constantly hovering in the back of all our minds, its bright white flash and the shadow of its mushroom cloud casting...
-- Cliff (chapter 2 paragraph 1)