"Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are."
— 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)

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

"Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness."
— 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)

"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 (The Book Thief)

"It kills me sometimes, how people die."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"A DEFINITION NOT FOUND
IN THE DICTIONARY
Not leaving: an act of trust and love,
often deciphered by children"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world.

She was the book thief without the words.

Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like rain."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I am haunted by humans."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Leisel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers...She did not say goodbye. She was incapable, and after a few more minutes at his side, she was able to tear herself from the ground. It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on..."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Usually we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "I'm okay" we say. "I'm alright". But sometimes the truth arrives on you and you can't get it off. That's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer--it's a question. Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"A small but noteworthy note. I've seen so many young men over the years who think they're running at other young men. They are not. They are running at me."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

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

"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."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I carried [Rudy] softly through the broken street...with him I tried a little harder [at comforting]. I watched the contents of his soul for a moment and saw a black-painted boy calling the name Jesse Owens as he ran through an imaginary tape. I saw him hip-deep in some icy water, chasing a book, and I saw a boy lying in bed, imagining how a kiss would taste from his glorious next-door neighbor. He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It's his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"She said it out loud, the words distributed into a room that was full of cold air and books. Books everywhere! Each wall was armed with overcrowded yet immaculate shelving. It was barely possible to see paintwork. There were all different styles and sizes of lettering on the spines of the black, the red, the gray, the every-colored books. It was one of the most beautiful things Liesel Meminger had ever seen.

With wonder, she smiled.

That such a room existed!"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Sometimes you read a book so special that you want to carry it around with you for months after you've finished just to stay near it."
— Markus Zusak

"If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter. "
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"...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)

"His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do - the best ones. The ones who rise up and say "I know who you are and I am ready. Not that I want to go, of course, but I will come." Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even 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...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. (Death)"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"It’s a small story really, about, among other things:

* A girl
* Some words
* An accordionist
* Some fanatical Germans
* A Jewish fist fighter
* And quite a lot of thievery"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Even death has a heart. "
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day. "
— 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)

""How does it feel, anyway?"
"How does what feel?"
"When you take one of those books?"
At that moment, she chose to keep still. If he wants an answer, he'd have to come back, and he did. "Well?" he asked, but again, it was the boy who replied, before Liesel could even open her mouth.
"It feels good, doesn't it? To steal something back.""
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I ever simply estimate it."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I have to say that although it broke my heart, I was, and still am, glad I was there."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"I want words at my funeral. But I guess that means you need life in your life."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"It was a year for the ages, like 79, like 1346, to name just a few. Forget the scythe, Goddamn it, I needed a broom or a mop. And I needed a vacation. "
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"My heart is so tired"
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"A book floated down the Amper River.
A boy jumped in, caught up to it, and held
it in his right hand. He grinned. He stood
waist-deep in the icy, Decemberish water.
“How about a kiss, Saumensch?” he said."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"The book thief has struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career."
— Markus Zusak

"It was a Monday and they walked on a tightrope to the sun."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Of course, I'm being rude.I'm spoiling the ending, not only of the entire book, but of this particular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I don't have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It's the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me. There are many things to think of. There is much story."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"Together, they would watch everything that was so carefully planned collapse, and they would smile at the beauty of destruction."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"As always, one of her books was next to her."
— 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)

"Can a person steal happiness? Or is just another internal,infernal human trick?""
— Markus Zusak

"But neither of us knows, because a fight's worth nothing if you know from the start that you're going to win it."
— Markus Zusak (Fighting Ruben Wolfe)

"It's not a big thing, but I guess it's true--big things are often just small things that are noticed."
— Markus Zusak (I Am the Messenger)

"All my friends seem to be smart arses. Don't ask me why. Like many things, it is what it is"
— Markus Zusak (I Am the Messenger)

"I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at somepoint in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away."
— Markus Zusak

"Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listened to their last, gasping cries. Their vanishing words. I watched their love visions and freed them from their fear."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)