Two Irishmen sombre in the dank light of the terminal make gestures of long-sufferance and woe...
-- Narration (chapter 1)

Importance: This line of narration constitutes the very first description that the reader receives of Maurice and Charlie. This description is specifically bleak and dour, and it foreshadows the many narrative revelations of the hardships that Maurice and Charlie have experienced. Thus, the novel establishes the fairly downtrodden tone of the novel (which is then subverted by the surprisingly hopeful tone of the novel's ending.)

Did ye know there are only seven true distractions in life?
-- Maurice (chapter 3)

Importance: Maurice's philosophy about the 'seven distractions' in life appears to be based on ideas of deep cynicism and suffering. Maurice lists love, grief, pain, sentimentality, avarice, lust, and desire for death as the only seven things that can distract a person from the inherent horrors of life and death. This philosophy appears to reflect a deeply pained and defeated...