My job right now is to make a world I can live in.
-- Charlie (Part 1, Chapter 1)

Importance: Charlie explains his goal while being in a mental hospital to Marina. Marina thinks this is the opposite of what Charlie should be doing; he should try to live in the world that already exists. It is true that Charlie's obsession with stories and lies is what caused his mental health to decline in the first place. This shows a fundamental difference in the way Charlie and Marina view the world.

The official version plasters over the gaps, the secret doors leading down to sexual sub-basements.
-- Charlie (Part 2, Chapter 1)

Importance: Charlie explains that some of Barlow's letters were edited to remove any hint at homosexuality. It is this belief that the truth has been covered up that leads Charlie on his quest to find out the real story of Barlow and Lovecraft's relationship. Perhaps Charlie takes this belief too far, assuming...