How we cite our quotes: In consultation with my editor, we decided (against standard practice) to go with page numbers—since The Sunset Limited is one long act and it would be unwieldy and impractical to number all the lines.
Quote #1
BLACK: I done told you. This aint none of my doin. I left out of here this mornin to go to work you wasn't no part of my plans at all. But here you is.
WHITE: It doesn't mean anything. Everything that happens doesnt mean something else. (3)
Right away, the two establish their worldviews, getting to the most basic aspect of the matter: Black thinks things happen for a reason, and White doesn't. It could be the difference between life and death…
Quote #2
BLACK: […] The first thing you've got to understand is that I aint got a original thought in my head. If it aint got the lingerin scent of divinity to it then I aint interested. (13)
If something has the "lingerin scent of divinity," it means it wasn't inspired or generated purely by worldly or natural means. Some part of it was infused with revelation—it's reaching human beings on that higher level.
Quote #3
WHITE: Probably I dont believe in a lot of things that I used to believe in but that doesn't mean that I dont believe in anything.
BLACK: Well give me a for instance.
WHITE: Mostly the value of things. […] Lots of things. Cultural things, for instance. Books and music and art. Things like that. (24-25)
White later admits he's lost faith in these things as well, but at one time, he must have found solace in them—they liberated him from the pain of being in the world, allowing his attention to go somewhere else.
Quote #4
BLACK: And that's what sent you off the edge of the platform. It wasnt nothin personal.
WHITE: It is personal. That's what an education does. It makes the world personal. (26)
If an education makes the world personal, it makes the world really matter to you; the world's concerns are now your concerns. But since White now sees the world as totally dark, its bleakness becomes his own, to.
Quote #5
WHITE: Did you used to think you were God?
BLACK: No. I didnt. I didn't know what I was. But I thought I was in charge. I never knowed what that burden weighed till I put it down. That might of been the sweetest thing of all. To just hand over the keys. (52-53)
Black implies that he used to be egocentric—he was holding onto the illusion that he was in control of his own life. When he accepted that he wasn't running the show, though, it came as a relief because it lightened the responsibility to direct his life.
Quote #6
BLACK: […] I ain't a doubter. But I am a questioner.
WHITE: What's the difference?
BLACK: Well, I think the questioner wants the truth. The doubter wants to be told there aint no such thing. (67)
This is key: Black believes there is some truth, some explanation for everything—and he's curious about what this is, while also accepting a certain amount of mystery. White, however, only believes in nothing, which due to its nothingness, can't contain truth.
Quote #7
WHITE: It's not my view. I believe in the primacy of the intellect. (96)
"The primacy of the intellect" means that the mind takes first place. White thinks it's the main guide you need, as opposed to consulting a fortune cookie or, worse yet, your own emotions.
Quote #8
WHITE: You see everything in black and white.
BLACK: It is black and white.
WHITE: I suppose that makes the world easier to understand. (105)
White criticizes Black as seeing things as cut and dry, but doesn't he do the same? He doesn't believe happiness exists or that life is worth living, and these don't seem like gray areas to him.
Quote #9
WHITE: I suppose from the God point of view all knowledge is vanity. Or maybe it gives people the unhealthy illusion that they can outwit the devil.
BLACK: Damn, Professor. Where was you when I needed you?
WHITE: You'd better be careful, you see where it's gotten me. (111)
At one point, Black asks if White's education is driving him to suicide. Although White dismisses that as being ridiculous, here in this piece of dialogue, it doesn't seem so far off target. White hints that this might be true.