The Accident doesn't just apply to technology, it also applies to people.
-- Tom Barren (chapter 6)

Importance: This quote introduces the concept that it is not just inventions that have an element that can go wrong; people have fatal flaws as well. This idea shifts the focus of the novel away from whether or not time travel as a technology is to blame for the events that take place. Instead, Tom focuses on his own grief at Penelope’s suicide and Goettreider’s obsession with Ursula as the real causes of instability in reality. This also breaks the strict distinction between each version of reality as people have flaws regardless of the reality they were born into.

I remember…when I first understood that only half of every tree is visible…It took me a lot longer…to realize people are like that too.
-- Tom Barren (chapter 10)

Importance: This quote primes readers to look for pieces of each character's...