Quotes from Markus Zusak

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.

is there cowardice in the acknowledgment of fear? Is there cowardice in being glad that you lived?

When I glanced back at the plane, the pilot's open mouth appeared to be smiling.

It'll be dark soon, Rudy.' He walked on. 'So what?' 'I'm going back.' Rudy stopped and watched her now as if she were betraying him. 'That's right, book thief. Leave me now. I bet if there was a lousy book at the end of this road, you'd keep walking. Wouldn't you?

Stars of David were plastered to their shirts, and misery was attached to them as if assigned. "Don't forget your misery …

A SMALL BUT NOTE WORTHY NOTE I've seen so many young men over the years who think they're running at other young men. They are not. They're running at me.

Some of those soldiers were only boys. They had the Führer in their eyes.

he tried not to look back as the stale bread disintegrated in his stomach. A few times, he shifted again and watched the lights become only a handful

A Definition Not Found In The Dictionary - Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children

Want me, I beg, but nothing comes.

She almost smiles from the pain - from the beauty of it. She's out of herself. Barefoot. More alive than anyone I've ever witnessed.

You don't always get what you wish for. Especially in Nazi Germany.

Some fanatical Germans

Only when she got up to leave did she notice the three imitation-gold medals sitting next to her. She knocked on the Steiners' door and held them out to him. "You forgot these." "No, I didn't." He closed the door and Liesel took the medals home. She walked with them down to the basement and told Max about her friend Rudy Steiner.

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, coughing and searching, and finding.

I did it because you are the epitome of ordinariness, Ed. And if a guy like you can stand up and do what you did for all those people, well, maybe everyone can. Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of. Maybe even I can...

the passengers slid out as if from a torn package.

The last thing I wanted was to look down at the stranded face of my teenager. A pretty girl. Her whole death was now ahead of her.

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

DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children

Non rendetemi felice. Non riempitemi, per favore, non lasciate che mi persuada che qualcosa di buono possa venire fuori da tutto ciò. Guardate i miei lividi. Guardate questo taglio. Vedete il taglio che ho nel cuore? Lo vedete allargarsi proprio sotto i vostri occhi, lo vedete consumarsi? Non voglio più sperare. Non voglio pregare che Max sia sano e salvo. O alex Steiner. Il mondo non li merita.

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.

That was when the world wasn't so big and I could see everywhere. It was when my father was a hero and not a human.

Si lance was not quiet and calm, and it was not peace.