- Smilla: The number system is like human life. First you have the natural numbers. The ones that are whole and positive. Like the numbers of a small child. But human consciousness expands. The child discovers longing. Do you know the mathematical expression for longing? The negative numbers. The formalization of the feeling that you're missing something.
- [On the subject of love]
- Smilla: I've been trying to avoid it all my life, so now it's here I just want to renounce it.
- Smilla: [Isaiah is sitting next to Smilla on her sofa] You smell bad. I don't mean to say this to hurt your feelings but you really stink.
- [She gives him a bath]
- Smilla: [Benja threatens Smilla. She grabs Benja's crotch with one hand and chokes her with the other] Benja. Leave me alone.