- Frank Roennfeldt: You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day, all the time. You have to keep remembering the bad things. It's too much work.
- Isabel Graysmark: [in letter to her daughter] I'd promised I'd stay away from you, and I've stuck to my word. However hard that was for me. I'm gone now. Which is why you have this letter. And it brings me joy because it means that you came to find us. I never gave up hope that you would. Knowing you were safe and loved allowed us to live our lives away from you. I hope life has been kind to you. I hope that you can forgive me for keeping you. And for letting you go. Know that you have always been beloved. -addl lines
- Isabel Graysmark: I can tell you lots about me. My mom taught me the piano.
- Tom Sherbourne: You still play?
- Isabel Graysmark: Not that well. My brothers used to tease me awfully when I played. I lost both of them - in the War. Just must be so confusing for my parents. I mean, if a wife loses a husband she becomes a widow, but if a parent loses a child there's no special label for it. You're still a mother or father. Even if you no longer have a child. Sometimes I wonder, if I'm still technically a sister now when my brothers are gone.
- Tom Sherbourne: One day, when you've got five kids running around getting under your feet, this'll all feel like a dream.
- Tom Sherbourne: Sometimes it's good to leave the past in the past.
- Isabel Graysmark: So if I can't talk about the past, am I allowed to talk about the future?
- Tom Sherbourne: We can't rightly talk about the future if you think about it. We can only talk about what we imagine or wish for. It's not the same thing.
- Isabel Graysmark: Tom, when I first saw you, I felt like I knew you, and I couldn't stop seeing my life with you; and building a family together. One that isn't stuck in the pain of the past. It's very pretty. And so, if you're asking me if my proposition still stands... then my answer is yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes.
- Isabel Graysmark: Take me out to Janus with you.
- Tom Sherbourne: What?
- Isabel Graysmark: I want to see it. I want to see where you hide yourself away.
- Tom Sherbourne: I'm afraid that that would be against Commonwealth rules. The only woman allowed on Janus is the keeper's wife.
- Isabel Graysmark: Then marry me.
- Tom Sherbourne: Do what you like to me. I'm not asking forgiveness. My wife, she had no choice. Show her some mercy.
- [first lines]
- Tom Sherbourne: I'm just looking to get away from things for a little while.
- Mr. Coughlan: [sitting behind his desk] Well, it's no paradise out on that island. Just want to make sure you know what you're in for.
- Tom Sherbourne: All due respect, Mr. Coughlan, it's not likely to be tougher than the Western Front.
- Mr. Coughlan: Oh, you're probably right about that. You pay your own passage to every posting. You're a relief worker so you don't get holidays. I understand you're a single man. No family. So, that's a slight concern. Wouldn't normally send a single man to Janus. It's pretty remote and wife and family can be a great practical help, not just a comfort. But, seeing it's only temporary, you leave for Port Partageuse in two days. From there you'll be shipped off to Janus. Welcome to Commonwealth Lighthouse Service. Proud to have a man who served our country with such distinction amongst our ranks.
- Sergeant Vernon Knuckey: If I ask you a question, you will answer it. Do you understand me?
- Tom Sherbourne: When you ask me a question, I will.