“Quality wine, Scotch, and coffee had been the three irreplaceable commodities after the death of Old Earth.”

“Woman is God’s supreme creation. Only after the earth had been formed, after the day had been separated from the night, after the waters had been divided from the land, after vegetation and animal life had been created, and after man had been placed on the earth, was woman created; and only then was the work pronounced complete and good.”

“That she was irreplaceable became a bittersweet loyalty: Her death was what I had now instead of her.”

“It seems that the people of Oran are like that friend of Flaubert who, on the point of death, casting a last glance at the irreplaceable earth, exclaimed: "Close the window, it's too beautiful.”

“True courage, in the face of almost certain death, is the rarest quality on earth.”

“Men had suddenly become a scarce commodity, if not quite as sought after as rice.”