…science, specifically the science of disease, was all delicious secrets, dark oily pockets of mystery. Language could be misinterpreted, misconstrued, its rules imposed or ignored at whim. There was no discipline to it. It seemed sometimes a sort of game made up by man to amuse himself with, much as Owen did. But a disease, a virus, a wiggling string of bacteria, existed with or without man, and it was up to us to fathom its secrets.”
-- Narration (Perina) (Part 1)

Importance: This quote sketches in the beginnings of Perina's interest in science, which emerged as a result of the unexpected death of his mother.

…I can remember my sense, from my very early years, that life was not Indiana, and certainly not Lindon, and possibly not even America. Life was elsewhere, and it was frightening and vast and mountainous and uncomfortable.”
-- Narration (Perina) (Part 1)

Importance: This quote reveals another facet of Perina's driving ambition, and also a perspective...