Zusak Quotes & Sayings

I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. — Markus Zusak

The thing is, I don't even hate cops. To tell you the truth, I actually feel a little sorry for them. — Markus Zusak

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-spat blues. Murky darknesses. — Markus Zusak

Warily, she dares to allow me a smile. "It's okay. It's just ... I'm not too good at talking to people." She looks away again as her shyness smothers her. "So, do you think it'd be all right if we don't talk? — Markus Zusak

He lay with yellow hair and closed eyes, and the book thief ran toward him and fell down. She dropped the black book. "Rudy," she sobbed, "wake up ... " She grabbed him by his shirt and gave him just the slightest disbelieving shake. "Wake up, Rudy," and now, as the sky went on heating and showering ash, Liesel was holding Rudy Steiner's shirt by the front. "Rudy, please." THe tears grappled with her face. "Rudy, please, wake up, Goddamn it, wake up, I love you. Come on, Rudy, come on, Jesse Owens, don't you know I love you, wake up, wake up, wake up ... — Markus Zusak

As she watched all of this, Liesel was certain that these were the poorest souls alive. That's what she wrote about them ... Some looked appealingly at those who had come to observe their humiliation, this prelude to their deaths. Others pleaded for someone, anyone to step forward and catch them in their arms.
No one did. — Markus Zusak

As winter set in, she was no longer a victim of Sister Maria's frustrations, preferring to watch as others were marched out to the corridor and given their just rewards. The sound of another student struggling in the hallway was not particularly enjoyable, but the fact that it was someone else was, if not a true comfort, a relief. When — Markus Zusak

I could go on, but I've decided for now that three examples will suffice. Three examples if nothing else, will give you the ashen taste in your mouth that defined my existence during that year. — Markus Zusak

It's funny, don't you think, how time seems to do a lot of things? It flies, it tells, and worst of all, it runs out. — Markus Zusak

When I find research really rewarding is when one piece of information gives you an idea for a story. That's when it's great. — Markus Zusak

They'd been standing like that for thirty seconds of forever. — Markus Zusak

She was one if the few souls that made me wonder what's it to live. — Markus Zusak

I procrastinate in spades. In my defence, I also try to have all other distractions solved before I can concentrate on writing. My small theory is that to write for three hours, you need to feel like you have three days. To write for three days, you need to feel like you've got three weeks, and so on. — Markus Zusak

A young man was hung by a rope made of Stalingrad snow — Markus Zusak

There is death.
Making his way through all of it.
On the surface: unflappable, unwavering.
Below: unnerved, untied, and undone. — Markus Zusak

When Liesel left that day, she said something with great uneasiness. In translation, two giant words were struggled with, carried on her shoulder, and dropped as a bungling pair at Ilsa Hermann's feet. They fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight. Together, they sat on the floor, large and loud and clumsy. Two giant words ... I'm sorry. — Markus Zusak

She could only hope they could read the depth of sorrow in her face, to recognize that it was true, and not fleeting. — Markus Zusak

We are wolves, which are wild dogs, and this is our place in the city. We are small and our house is small on our small urban street. We can see the city and the train line and it's beautiful in its own dangerous way. Dangerous because it's shared and taken and fought for.
That's the best way I can put it, and thinking about it, when I walk past the tiny houses on our street, I wonder about the stories inside them. I wonder hard, because houses must have walls and rooftops for a reason. My only query is the windows. Why do they have windows? Is it to let a glimpse of the world in? Or for us to see out? — Markus Zusak

She's beautiful. In the way she is. — Markus Zusak

I'm not one of these 'the characters write themselves; the story just fell out of me' kind of writers. Wish it was like that. — Markus Zusak

I have loved words, I have hated them, and I hope I have used them well. — Markus Zusak

I was always reading books when I should have been doing math and the rest of it. — Markus Zusak

A Jew had once saved his life and he couldn't forget that. He couldn't join a party that antagonized people in such a way ... Like many of the Jews believed, he didn't think the hatred could last ... — Markus Zusak

God damn, you were so beautiful, Mama. — Markus Zusak

It makes me wonder, Do we spend most of our days trying to remember or forget things? Do we spend most of our time running towards or away from our lives? I don't know. — Markus Zusak

She was renowned as the best word shaker of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be WITHOUT words. That's why she could climb higher than anyone else. She had desire. She was hungry for them. — Markus Zusak

When reason fails, the devil helps! — Markus Zusak

Right. That's twenty-two fifty."
"Twenty-two fifty?" We can't hide our exasperation.
"Well, yeah - this is a classy joint, you know."
"That's obvious - the service is incredible. — Markus Zusak

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. — Markus Zusak

One wild card was yet to be played. — Markus Zusak

It's all very well for such a person to whine and moan and criticize other family members, but they won't let anyone else do it. — Markus Zusak

We smell the impact of traffic and humans. Humans and traffic. Back and forth. We taste our moment, swallowing it, knowing it. We feel our nerves twitching inside our stomaches, lunging at our skin from beneath. — Markus Zusak

Amen,' I say, delayed, and now, like many of these people, I pray for the first time in years. — Markus Zusak

It was a Monday and they walked on a tightrope to the sun. — Markus Zusak

One thing I've noticed about the Germans: They seem very fond of pigs. — Markus Zusak

When they came together, Michael apologized. — Markus Zusak

Papa was a man with silver eyes, not dead ones.
Papa was an accordion!
But his bellows were all empty.
Nothing went in and nothing came out. — Markus Zusak

Whoever named Himmel Street certainly had a healthy sense of irony. Not that is was a living hell. It wasn't. But is sure as hell wasn't heaven, either. — Markus Zusak

A small sample of some girl-written words
That summer was a new beginning, a new end.
When I look back, I remember my slippery hands of paint and the sound of Papa's feet on Munich Street, and I know that a small piece of the summer of 1942 belonged to only one man. Who else would do some paintwork for the price of half a cigarette? That was Papa, that was typical, and I loved him. — Markus Zusak

They were glued down, every last one of them. A packet of souls.
Was it fate?
Misfortune?
Is that what glued them down like that?
Of course not.
Let's not be stupid.
It probably had more to do with the hurled bombs, thrown down by humans hiding in the clouds. — Markus Zusak

I watched the sky as it turned from silver to grey to the colour of rain. Even the clouds tried to look the other way. — Markus Zusak

When death tells a story yo really have to listen — Markus Zusak

Time will tell, I suppose, or at least, these pages will. — Markus Zusak

When I picked him up originally, the boy's spirit was soft and cold, like ice-cream. He started melting in my arms. Then warming up completely. Healing. — 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

As usual, I collected humans. I was tired. And the year wasn't even halfway over yet. — Markus Zusak

There was sex, of course. Nakedness. Wall to wall, in and out of my thoughts. But when it was over it was her whispering voice I craved, and a human curled up in my arms. — Markus Zusak

It's my heart that is tired. A thirteen-year-old heart shouldn't feel like this. — Markus Zusak

Behind me, a teddy bear was resting on the shoulder of a corpse. A lemon candle stood below the branches. The pilot's soul was in my arms. — Markus Zusak

Oh, how the clouds stumbled in and assembled stupidly in the sky.
Great obese clouds.
Dark and plump.
Bumping into each other. Apologizing. Moving on and finding room. — Markus Zusak

Yet each day, he managed to unravel and straighten himself, disgusted and thankful. Wrecked, but somehow not torn into pieces. — Markus Zusak

I walked home, seeing all my doubt from the other side. Have you ever seen that? Like when you go on holiday. On the way back, everything is the same but it looks a little different than it did on the way. It's because you're seeing it backwards. — Markus Zusak

Why me? I ask God. God says nothing. I laugh and the stars watch. It's good to be alive. — Markus Zusak

**** A 2 A.M. CONVERSATION****
"Is this yours?"
"Yes, Papa."
"Do you want to read it?"
Again, "Yes,Papa."
A tired smile.
Metallic eyes, melting.
"Well, we'd better read it, then. — Markus Zusak

People observe the colours of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours. — Markus Zusak

There was once a strange, small man. He decided three important details about his life:
1. He would part his hair from the opposite side to everyone else.
2. He would make himself a small, strange mustache.
3. He would one day rule the world.
... Yes, the Fuhrer decided that he would rule the world with words. — Markus Zusak

Certainly war meant dying, but it always shifted the ground beneath a person's feet when it was someone who had once lived and breathed in close proximity. — Markus Zusak

You bastards, she thought.
You lovely bastards.
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. I don't want to pray that Max is alive and safe. Or Alex Steiner.
Because the world does not deserve them. — Markus Zusak

I only know that all of those people would have sensed me that night, excluding the youngest of the children. I was the suggestion. I was the advice, my imagined feet walking into the kitchen and down the corridor. — Markus Zusak

A happening was looming. It was out there somewhere beyond the regular enclosed life that I had been living. It was out there, not waiting, but existing. Being. Perhaps it was only slightly wondering if I would come to it. — Markus Zusak

My heart applauds inside my ears, first like a roaring crowd, then slows and slows until it's a solitary person, clapping with unbridled sarcasm.
Clap. Clap.
Clap.
Well done, Ed.
Well given up. — Markus Zusak

Best friends one, and now we have almost nothing to say to each other. It was interesting, how he had joined those guys and I just stayed on my own. I didn't like it or dislike it. It was just funny that things had turned out that way. — 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

1. The desperate Jews - their spirits in my lap as we sat on the roof, next to the steaming chimneys.
2. The Russian soldiers - taking only small amounts of ammunition, relying on the fallen for the rest of it.
3. The soaked bodies of a French coast - beached on the shingle and sand. — Markus Zusak

What someone says and what happened are usually two different things. — Markus Zusak

And please," Ilsa Hermann advised her, "don't punish yourself, like you said you would. Don't be like me, Liesel. — Markus Zusak

The only people we want to blame are ourselves, because it will be ourselves that we rely upon. — Markus Zusak

No one's urine smells as good as your own. — Markus Zusak

The only sign of war was a cloud of dust migrating from east to west. It looked through the windows, trying to find a way inside, and as it simultaneously thickened and spread, it turned the trail of humans into apparitions. There were no people on the street anymore. They were rumors carrying bags. — Markus Zusak

No one had ever given her music before. — Markus Zusak

I always marvel at the humans' ability to keep going. They always manage to stagger on even with tears streaming down their faces. — Markus Zusak

As she crossed the street, a rumor of sunshine stood behind the clouds. — Marcus Zusak

I listened to their last, gasping cries. Their vanishing words. I watched their love visions and freed them from their fear. I took them all away, and if ever there was a time I needed distraction, this was it. — Markus Zusak

Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man's gentleness, his thereness. (p.36) — Markus Zusak

At times, it makes me want to stop and stay. Stay for ever. — Markus Zusak

I see myself beneath her.
Being taken and made love to.
I feel her.
I know her.
Taste her champagne mouth.
Ignore the ugly teeth.
Just shut my eyes and taste her. — Markus Zusak

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

Quietly, he walked towards it with the matchbox in one hand, the candle in the other. — Markus Zusak

As always, she was carrying the washing. Rudy was carrying two buckets of cold water, or as he put it, two buckets of future ice. — Markus Zusak

I think of how she lives alone, just like me, and how she never had any real family, and how she only has sex with people. She never lets any love get in the way. I think she had a family once, but it was one of those beat-the-crap-out-of-each-other situations. There's no shortage of them around here. I think she loved them, and all they ever did was hurt her. — Markus Zusak

Have me, they said, and there was no stopping them. They were frightened, no question, but they were not afraid of me. It was a fear of messing up and having to face themselves again, and facing the world, and the likes of you.
There was nothing I could do.
They had too many ways, they were too resourceful - and when they did it too well, whatever their chosen method, I was in no position to refuse. — Markus Zusak

As I make my way through, I feel okayness reaching through me.
The funny thing is that okayness is not a real word. It's not in the dictionary.
But it's in me. — Markus Zusak

What great malice there could be in allowing something to live. — Markus Zusak

I however, try to enjoy every color I see the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same. — Markus Zusak

Papa- the accordionist- and Himmel Street.

One could not exist without the other, because for Liesel, both were home. — Markus Zusak

His hair is like feathers. — Markus Zusak

He watched them grow, until eventually, great forests of words had risen throughout Germany ... It was a nation of farmed thoughts. — Markus Zusak

He left Himmel Street wearing his hangover and a suit. — Markus Zusak

With us [ ... ] the enemy isn't over the hill or in any specific direction. It's all around. — Markus Zusak

I guess when someone tells you something they they usually guard, you feel privileged, not because you know something no-one else knows, but because you feel chosen. You feel like that person wants her life to intersect with yours. I think that's what felt best about it. — Markus Zusak

See, Cameron. The only things I care about in this life are me, you, Mum, Dad, Steve and Sarah. And maybe Miffy. The rest of the world means nothing to me. The rest of the world can rot.'
Am I like that too?'
You? No way.' There's a slight gap in his words. 'And that's your problem. You care about everything.'
He's right.
I do. — Markus Zusak

I bet that guy was as obsessed with Sarah as I am with this other girl, and I bet he promised himself never to hurt her, just like I've been doin' - and look what he's done to her. He's left her a crumpled mess, lyin' on her bed all the time. — Markus Zusak

You should know it yourself- a young man is still a boy, and a boy sometimes has the right to be stubborn. — Markus Zusak

Her teeth were like a soccer crowd, crammed in. — Markus Zusak

He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection. — Markus Zusak

Quite frankly, so am I, because what I'm about to tell you is a fact.
In this country, there is only one thing that can draw a crown without any shadow of a doubt. The answer?
Beer.
Free beer. — Markus Zusak

Her knees entered the ground. Her moment had arrived. Still in disbelief, she started to dig. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't - Within seconds, snow was carved into her skin. Frozen blood was cracked across her hands. Somewhere in all the snow, she could see her broken heart, in two pieces. Each half was glowing, and beating under all that white. She realized her mother had come back for her only when she felt the boniness of a hand on her shoulder. She was being dragged away. A warm scream filled her throat. — Markus Zusak

Did you learn?"
The face in the corner watched the flames. "I did." There was a considerable pause. "Until I was nine. At that age, my mother sold the music studio and stopped teaching. SHe kept only the one instrument but gave up on me not long after I resisted the learning. I was foolish."
"No," Papa said. "You were a boy. — Markus Zusak

The world is lightening, taking shape, and turning to color. — Markus Zusak

When death captures me," the boy vowed, "he will feel my fist in his face." (31.26) — Markus Zusak