- Kumiko: Everyone wants to be the champagne, not the glass. Everyone wants to be the flower, not the vase.
- Kumiko: Some will kill, some will be killed. That's the circle of life, though there are contradictions. There are no perfect circles anywhere in nature. But if you draw a circle with a compass and a big fat marker, a thick outline will make it seem perfect. I'll give you a sense of perfection, Tetsuzo. You can be a lion. I'll be a rabbit. I don't need thick outlines. My metal box is starting to rot. I'm gonna go to a higher level. A rabbit, a suicide, a killer, evil, water overflowing from a glass... I'll be whatever no one else wants to be. I'm sick of shameless outlines of people seeking happiness. They don't wanna be rabbits. They just wanna eat rabbits. There's no such jungle.
- Circle member (in cafe) to Noriko's Father: The only way to figure out what we can be... is to lie openly and pursue emptiness.
- Noriko Shimabara: Stray cats roamed the back alleys like blood flows through a vein.
- Kumiko: Stray cats form families instantly. No need to feel sorry for them, they're tough, they own this town. We have to relate to each other like stray cats do.
- Noriko Shimabara: Dad looked at me. His eyes were moist. I felt bad. I was his daughter. He was a lonely, stubborn man.