How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"We see only what the others see. The thousands who were here in the past, those who will come in the future. We've agreed to be part of a collective perception. This literally colors our vision. A religious experience in a way, like all tourism." (3.23)
After he takes Jack to see The Most Photographed Barn in America, Murray comments that everyone who sees the barn actually becomes part of something bigger than just themselves. The barn's uniqueness is a total illusion that's produced by the fact that so many people have bought into the idea that the barn is special. For this reason, no one really sees the barn with their own eyes. Everyone is part of a larger community that thinks the barn is special. Their failure to see with their own eyes shows us that they've also lost their identity in the group of "believers."
Quote #2
The chancellor warned against what he called my tendency to make a feeble presentation of self. He strongly suggested that I gain weight […] If I could become more ugly, he seemed to be suggesting, it would help my career enormously. (4.21)
Jack's boss at the university wants Jack to do more to establish himself as a great intellectual figure. In order to do this, he can't look so normal. He needs to make himself stand out: perhaps by looking ugly. This passage just goes to show how important it is to look a certain way so that people will think of you a certain way. It's not Jack's real self that matters here. It's the person that he is supposed to look like.
Quote #3
The glasses with thick black heavy frames and dark lenses were my own idea, an alternative to the bushy beard that my wife of the period didn't want me to grow. (4.22)
Even though he doesn't follow his chancellor's advice and get fat, Jack does wear special glasses in order to give himself a unique look. After all, public figures need to "brand" themselves if they want people to see them a certain way. But even in this case, Jack chose the glasses because his wife didn't want him to grow a beard. It looks like Jack chooses his appearance based on what other people think more than what he thinks.