p.15 we could see it over the roofs of the houses to the south: the great hemisphere of gleaming metal rocking through the air above the three articulated legs, several times as high as the church. Its shadow came before it, and fell on us when it halted, two of its legs astride the river and the mill... one of the enormous burnished tentacles came down, gently and precisely, and its tip curled about Jack's waist, and it lifted him up, up, to where a hole opened like a mouth in the hemisphere, and swallowed him.

p.31 "...There are two stories about them. One is that they were machines, made by men, which revolted against men and enslaved them."
 "In the old days? The days of the giant ship, of the great-cities?"
 "Yes. It is a story I find hard to believe, because I do not see how men could give intelligence to machines. The other story is that they do not come originally from this world, but another."

p.32 "And the Caps?"
 "Are the means by which they keep men docile and obedient to them."
 At first thought, it was incredible. Later, it seemed incredible that I had not seen this before. But all my life Capping had been something I had taken for granted. All my elders were Capped, and contented to be so. It was the mark of an adult

p.33 Jack had had doubts, too, and then, with the Capping, they had gone. I said, "They make men think the things the Tripods want them to think?"
 "They control the brain. How, or to what extent, we are not sure... It seems that certain general orders are given when the Cap is put on..."

p.39 I could not stay, any more than a sheep could walk through a slaughterhouse door, once it knew what lay beyond. And I knew that I would rather die than wear a Cap.

p.48,49 Henry said, "Listen."
 In some annoyance, I said, "What is it now?"
 "I think someone's coming after us." ..."You stupid fool!" I said. "You've had us running from a flock of sheep, and now look what's happened."

p.95-96 Henry found a chess set, and he played a couple of games with Beanpole, who won easily. I then challenged him, and was also beaten. Finally I played against Henry. I expected to beat him, because I thought I had done better against Beanpole, but I lost in about twenty moves. I felt fed up... and refused his offer to play again.

p.111 The bitter thing was that all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted... Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?

p.121 The notion was absurd. Whatever privileges I was given, I would still be a sheep among sheep.

p.124 If one is seeking reasons for disloyalty, it is useful to find something one can resent.

p.125 I reminded myself of something else - of what I had thought as I lay in bed, recovering from the fever. That nothing mattered, nothing was of value, without a mind that challenged and inquired.

p.137 I lay, tossing and turning... I halted my thoughts in their futile round of self-accusation; and began to make plans.

p.144 These creatures were nonhuman, and one should not try to give them human motives.

p.161 Henry asked, "What are we going to do?"
 "We must think," Beanpole said.

p.177 Beanpole said, "We can fight it."
 He said it with a lunatic calm, which made me want to groan. Henry said, "What with? Our fists?"

p.194-195 A long, difficult, and dangerous journey, Ozymandias told me. So it proved... We live among men whose minds are their own... Our leaders keep their counsel... we could not expect to know what the projects are, or what our part in them may be. But we shall have a part, that is certain. And another thing is certain, too: in the end we shall destroy the Tripods, and free men will enjoy the goodness of the earth.