We didn't in the light; we didn't in darkness.
-- Narrator

Importance: This quote opens "We Didn't," and it is significant because it showcases a direct contradiction of the epigraph that precedes the story. The poem by Yehuda Amichai, "We Did It," is a celebration of sexual union in a number of different places, but Dybeck uses this epigraph ironically to establish his story as one that examines adolescent anxiety over sex and growing up.

How adept we were at fumbling, how perfectly mistimed our timing, how utterly we confused energy with ecstasy.
-- Narrator

Importance: This quote represents an instance in which the present-day adult narrator provides his own commentary on the events of his past. It shows that while his younger self was preoccupied with losing his virginity, as an adult he has come to see and cherish the beauty of his young relationship and the awkward encounters it fostered.

The lake had turned...
-- Narrator