“When all else fails, give up and go to the library.”
Absent all of the preparation and information gathering that Jake and his gang have done in advance of Lee Harvey Oswald's attempt on JFK's life, they have a plan: they will just give up and go to the library on the day of the attempt. All of their planning and surveillance won't change the fact that Oswald will be in the library around noon. They know they can stop him then.
“Stupidity is one of the two things we see most clearly in retrospect. The other is missed chances.”
This quote is Jake's ethos: human beings are easily able to look back on their lives and pick out times when they were stupid and when they missed chances. Those revelations are much harder to realize when people are in the moment. Jake's point is that, while people should not dwell on the past if they have the opportunity to change the past and their past mistakes, they should seize the opportunity. People never have that opportunity; in the science fiction world of 11/22/63, Jake has an opportunity to do just that. But when he takes the opportunity, something unexpected happens: the world is destroyed, showing that the past is better left not messed with.
“Sarcastic people tend to be marshmallows underneath the armor.”
This quote sheds light on the defense mechanisms that some employ to shield what they perceive as their vulnerabilities. The people that Jake is talking about use their sarcasm as a facade. They think that, by being sarcastic, they can appear to be emotionally strong and detached from situations that are challenging or charged with intense emotion (like their mission to find and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK). However, deep down, they are incredibly sensitive people who are generally very kind. Looks can be deceiving.
