At lunch, before school, and at all other times in public, you must keep an insanely low profile. I mean, just forget about lunch. Lunch is where you are asked to demonstrate your allegiance to once group or another by sitting with them for all to see.
-- Greg (chapter 1 paragraph 14)

Importance: Greg outlines his approach to dealing with high school in his narration by explaining his desire to avoid being noticed by anyone. This quotation sums up Greg’s approach to life at the start of novel, but by the end of the novel he becomes comfortable in his own skin and less obsessed with avoiding interactions with other people.

What you’re seeing here is just part of the larger pattern of Mom-Greg Life Interference. She was without a doubt the single biggest obstacle between me and the social life I was trying to describe before: a social life without friends, enemies, or...
-- Greg (chapter 6 paragraph penultimate)