You can no longer expect people to act in their own best interests when they're so disoriented they don't know - or no longer care - what those interests are.
-- Halina Bortnowska (Introduction)

Importance: From a Polish human rights activist, this quote expertly summarizes Klein's theory on how shock politics can consume the mind of the populous into blindly following ill-suited leaders.

We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
-- Martin Luther King Jr. (chapter 1)

Importance: Klein uses this prophetic quote from Martin Luther King Jr. to open her book. King succinctly categorizes the fundamental problem in society - the focus on material possessions as opposed to fellow human beings.

So anything that increases Donald Trump's visibility, and the perception of him as all-powerful, actively increases...
-- Naomi Klein (chapter 2)