Markus Zusak Quotes

“Make no mistake, the woman had a heart. She had a bigger one that people would think. There was a lot in it, stored up, high in miles of hidden shelving. Remember that she was the woman with the instrument strapped to her body in the long, moon-slit night.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“I guess that’s the beauty of books. When they finish they don’t really finish.”
― Markus Zusak

“After another ten minutes, the gates of thievery would open just a crack, and Liesel Meminger would widen them a little further and squeeze through.

***TWO QUESTIONS***
Would the gates shut behind her?
Or would they have the goodwill to let her back out?

As Liesel would discover, a good thief requires many things.
Stealth. Nerve. Speed.
More important than any of those things, however, was one final requirement.
Luck.

Actually.
Forget the ten minutes.
The gates open now.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“I feel the fear, but I walk fast toward it.”
― Markus Zusak, I Am the Messenger

“Don’t make me happy. Please, don’t fill me up and let me think that something good can come of any of this. Look at my bruises. Look at this graze. Do you see the graze inside me? Do you see it growing before your very eyes, eroding me? I don’t want to hope for anything anymore.”
― markus zusak

“He must have longed for it so much. He must have loved her so incredibly hard. So hard that he would never ask for her lips again and would go to his grave without them.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skills is their capacity to escalate.”
― Markus Zusak

“I just know that right now, we want to be proud. For once. We want to take the struggle and rise above it. We want to frame it, live it, survive it. We want to put it in our mouths and taste it and never forget it, because it makes us strong.”
― Markus Zusak, Fighting Ruben Wolfe

“He didn't deserve to die the way he did.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“How do you tell if something’s alive?

You check for breathing.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“How many books had she touched?
How many had she felt?”
― Markus Zusak

“It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors- an expert at being left behind.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“The question is, what colour will everything be at that moment when I come for you? What will the sky be saying?”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“He odiado las palabras y las he amado, y espero haber estado a su altura..”
― Markus Zusak

“Jesus, Mary …”
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 the 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!
Even when she tried to wipe the smile away with her forearm, she realized instantly that it was a pointless exercise. She could feel the eyes of the woman traveling her body, and when she looked at her, they had rested on her face.
There was more silence than she ever thought possible. It extended like an elastic, dying to break. The girl broke it.
“Can I?”
The two words stood among acres and acres of vacant, wooden-floored land. The books were miles away.
The woman nodded.
Yes, you can”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“How many times did she have to say goodbye?”
― Markus Zusak

“Ignoraba que las palabras pudieran pesar tanto.”
― Markus Zusak

“Where Hans Hubermann and Erik Vandenburg were ultimately united by music, Max and Liesel were held together by the quiet gathering of words.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“Može li netko ukrasti sreću? Ili je i to još jedan unutarnji, pakleni ljudski trik?”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“[...]otra arremetida de «Heil
Hitler!». ¿Sabes? Lo cierto es que me sorprendería que alguien no perdiera un
ojo o se hiciera daño en una mano o en una muñeca en medio de ese jaleo.
Bastaba con quedarse mirando hacia el lugar equivocado en el peor momento o
estar demasiado pegado a otra persona. Tal vez sí que hubo heridos. Por lo que
a mí respecta, lo único que puedo decir es que nadie murió por estar allí, al
menos físicamente. Es evidente que no podemos olvidar los cuarenta millones
de personas que recogí cuando todo hubo acabado, pero esto se está poniendo
metafórico.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“Si domandò quando esattamente i libri e le parole avessero incominciato a significare non solamente qualcosa, ma tutto.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“(My full name's Ed Kennedy. I'm nineteen. I'm an underage cab driver. I'm typical of many of the young men you see in this suburban outpost of the city- not a whole lot of prospects or possibility. That aside, I read more books than I should, and I'm decidedly crap at sex and doing my taxes.Nice to meet you.)”
― Markus Zusak, I Am the Messenger

“It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors- an expert at being eft behind.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“So many humans.
So many colors.

They keep triggering inside me. They harass my memory. I see them tall in their heaps, all mounted on top of each other. There is air like plastic, a horizon like setting glue. There are skies manufactured by people, punctured and leaking, and there are soft, coal-colored clouds, beating like black hearts.
And then.
There is death.
Making his way through all of it.
On the surface: unflappable, unwavering.
Below: unnerved, untied, and undone.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“His first plan of attack was to plant the words in as many areas of his homeland as possible.
He planted them day and night, and cultivated them.
He watched them grow, until eventually, great forests of words had risen throughout Germany.... it was a nation of farmed thoughts.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big long cloud, and it's stretched out, like a rope. At the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole...'
Max, at this moment, knew that only a child could have given him a weather report like that.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief