quotes by Markus Zusak

"Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are."
— Markus Zusak (I Am the Messenger)

"Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of."
— Markus Zusak (I Am the Messenger)

"The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"It kills me sometimes, how people die."
— Markus Zusak

"...there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness, too. That was writing."
— Markus Zusak

""...one opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life, and death to more death.""
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant."
— Markus Zusak

"I am haunted by humans."
— Markus Zusak

"Son, you can't go around painting yourself black, you hear?"
"Why not, Papa?"
"Because they'll take you away."
"Why?"
"Because you shouldn't want to be like black people or Jewish people or anyone who is...not us."
"Who are Jewish people?"
"You know my oldest customer, Mr. Kaufmann? Where we bought your shoes?"
"Yes."
"Well, he's Jewish."
"I didn't know that. Do you have to pay to be Jewish? Do you need a license?"
.....
"...you've got beautiful blond hair and big safe blue eyes. You should be happy with that; is that clear?"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I’m Angelina,” she says. “Are you here to save us?” I can see a tiny spark of hope awaken in her eyes.

“You’re right, Angelina - I’m here to save you.”

“Can you? Really?”

“I’ll try,” I say and the girl smiles."
— Markus Zusak (I Am the Messenger)

"Often I wish this would all be over, Liesel, but then somehow you do something like walk down the basement steps with a snowman in your hands."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.

The Book Thief - p522"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Each night, Liesel would step outside, wipe the door, and watch the sky. Usually it was like spillage - cold and heavy, slippery and gray - but once in a while some stars had the nerve to rise and float, if only for a few minutes. On those nights, she would stay a little longer and wait.

'Hello, stars.' "
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

""A halo surrounded the grim reaper nun, Sister Maria.(By the way-I like this human idea of the grim reaper. I like the scythe. It amuses me.)"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"E não sou muito boa nessa história de consolar, especialmente quando tenho as mãos frias e a cama é quente. Carreguei-o com delicadeza pela rua destroçada, com sal nos olhos e o coração mortalmente pesado. Observei por um instante o conteúdo de sua alma, e vi um menino pintado de preto, gritando o nome de Jesse Owens ao cruzar uma fita de chegada imaginária. Vi-o afundado até os quadris em água gelada, perseguindo um livro, e vi um garoto deitado na cama, imaginando que gosto teria um beijo de sua gloriosa vizinha do lado. Ele mexe comigo, esse garoto. Sempre. É sua única desvantagem. Ele pisoteia meu coração. Ele me faz chorar."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

""I am haunted by humans."
"
— Markus Zusak

"***A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR***

I am haunted by humans.

--The Book Thief by Markus Zusak"
— Markus Zusak

"I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)