- Thomas Cream: I have always thought a country should be judged on how it treats its insane, rather than its sane; the stranger on our shores rather than those already home.
- John River: Your questions. Yes I've taken medication before. No I've never disclosed this. Yes, Stevie helped me control my condition. No I've never been formally diagnosed. Yes, I'm aware this is a breach of police protocol. And when was the last time I spoke to a friend? I don't have any. The only one I have... had is dead, so... I'm a good officer. But in this world that's not enough. In this world, you have to be able to nod and smile and drink a pint, and say, "How was your day?" In this world no one can be different or strange or damaged. Or they lock you up. So what do I do know?
- Rosa Fallows: You keep talking.
- John River: From the fortune cookie that River opens: "Do not go where the path may lead. Go where there is no path and leave a trail."
- [first lines]
- Christopher Riley: [appearing in his apartment] Can't sleep? Do you know what does that to you? What would I shoot at people for? Some of them are my best customers.
- John River: Then who did?
- John River: [now to an empty apartment] Then who did?
- Bridie Stevenson: My whole life you police have taken... every time. First my son. Then my husband. And then you take my daughter and put her in a uniform - and you take her as well. Sixteen years. Sixteen years she didn't speak to her brother. Justice? The only real justice is when you take the law into your own hands.
- Ira King: I had an Aunt who used to talk to herself.
- John River: Did you like her?
- Ira King: She tried to strangle my Uncle Ralph.