"'What were you fighting for, Slim?' He looked down. Mustache drooping down. He whispered. 'Slavery'"
This quote is important because it touches on kind of a heavy topic regarding Victor's internal feelings in the novel, as he really isn't fighting for anything. He has nothing, is nothing, and pretty much will never be anything, because of his past and who he is.
“Freedom is a matter of logistics.”
This quote is also important as it touches on how in this alternative history, everything he is, is decided by the marshals, or the ones who own them. It's a matter of logistics in the meaning that it's about how you know, where you're born, or more simply, your skin color.
“What the slave wants but can never have is not only freedom from the chains but also from their memory.”
Victor constantly speaks about his memories as a slave previous to the novel, but he also talks about how being free is one thing, but a slave is never really free because he can't escape his past mentally. It's almost like a feeling of PTSD.
“Time makes things worse. Bad is faster than good. Wickedness is a weed and does not wither on its own. It grows and spreads.”
This quote is in reference to the government and the marshals, and how as time passes, wickedness spreads uncontrollably, and now they are taking this wickedness out on the slaves in the Hard Four. He speaks on how the world as it progresses becomes more corrupt until the point that everything is corrupt.
