THE BOOK THIEF BOOK QUOTES

“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.” – Death

“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” – Liesel Meminger

“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 darknesses.” – Death

“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.” – Liesel Meminger

“I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” – Liesel Meminger

“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.” – Death

“She wanted to ask him something but was afraid of what the answer might be. Nevertheless, she heard herself speak. ‘Do you still play the accordion?’ ‘Of course I do.’ He triggered the question. ‘I’m a Bavarian, aren’t I?'” – Liesel Meminger and Max Vandenburg

“The sun was having a final peek through the clouds. It looked weary, as if it had been peering shyly between those clouds for days.” – Death

“The book thief has struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career.” – Death

“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy who loves you.” – Liesel Meminger

“I am haunted by humans.” – Death PURE HEART CLEAR MIND QUOTES

“A small fact: You are going to die.” – Death

“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.” – Death

“I wanted to tell the book thief how sorry I was, that she deserved better, that I was grateful for her love. But I’m a river, and she’s a boat. And now she’s gone down the stream of my forgiveness.” – Death

“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.” – Death

“I have hated words, and I have loved them. I hope I have made them right.” – Liesel Meminger

“Papa, do you still love me?”

“Nonsense,” he laughed, as if she’s said something entirely different. “Nothin’ in this world could make me stop lovin’ you.” – Liesel Meminger and Hans Hubermann

“A voice played the notes inside her. This time, there was no telling who’s they were. They did not behave like Franz Deutscher’s, dying maggots of sound, nearly indecent in their rippling absence of tune. They were… beautiful.” – Liesel Meminger

“She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Liesel 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, no longer afraid of being caught. There was the sound of the crematorium, and the smell of fire on the air, and there was Liesel Meminger kissing the boy she loved.” – Markus Zusak

“When he died, I realized that the beauty of the world is nothing but a shadow of the ugliness that surrounds us. Death’s face is the mirror that reflects our own.” – Death