How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Kind of comes over me: here I've pretty much done all the things I ought to; supported my family, and got a good house and a six-cylinder car, and built up a nice little business […] And yet, even so, I don't know that I'm entirely satisfied!" (5.3.29)
When Babbitt looks at his life, it seems as though he's done everything he's supposed to in order to be happy. But for all of his money and his house and his car, he's still not satisfied. This sense of dissatisfaction will basically go on to drive the action for the rest of this novel.
Quote #5
"[If] it hadn't been for you and an occasional evening playing the violin to Terrill O'Farrell's cello, and three or four darling girls that let me forget this beastly joke they call 'respectable life,' I'd 've killed myself years ago." (5.3.47)
Babbitt might think that he's dissatisfied, but Paul Riesling totally one-ups him in that department. For Paul, there are very few reasons for staying alive, apart from playing his violin every now and then. This level of sadness is actually scary to Babbitt, who doesn't want his own situation to become as bad as Paul's.
Quote #6
But Babbitt—the curst discontent was torturing him again, and heavily, in the impersonal darkness, he pondered, "I don't—We're all so flip and think we're so smart." (9.1.49)
Babbitt's discontent starts out as a little pinch in his conscience. But eventually, it starts turning into dislike for the people around him. He's tired of his rich friends cracking jokes and thinking that they're so smart all the time. He's starting to realize that all of their good cheer is actually pretty superficial.