The Book Thief Quotes
"First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try."
"A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses."
"The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy who loves you."
"I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."
"The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this."
"When death captures me, he will feel my fist on his face."
"I wanted to tell the book thief she was one of the few souls that made me wonder what it was to live."
"But that is not allowed. I did not crouch down. I did not speak. Instead, I watched her awhile."
"I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sandcastles, houses of cards, that's where they begin."
"The book thief looked down again, at the words."
"You can steal a book, but you can't read one!"
"In the event of snow, she spoke, you must make sure you use a good shovel."
"You must dig deep; you cannot be lazy. You cannot cut corners."
"It is easier to wait for the warmest part of the day."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the stupid one."
"Oh, how the clouds stumbled in and assembled stupidly in the sky."
"Bumping into each other. Apologizing. Moving on and finding room."
"Trust me, though, the words were on their way."
"She loved and hated her best friend, Rudy Steiner, which was perfectly normal."
"The light was out for barely a minute when Liesel spoke to him across the dark."
"It was one of those moments of perfect tiredness, of having conquered not only the work at hand, but the night who had blocked the way."
"Look at the colors, Papa said. It's hard not to like a man who not only notices the colors, but speaks them."
"You're either for the Führer or against him—and I can see that you're against him. You always have been."
"It sounded like an instrument, or the notes of running feet."
"She could feel the eyes of the woman traveling her body, and when she looked at her, they had rested on her face."
"It was one of the most beautiful things Liesel Meminger had ever seen."
"With wonder, she smiled. That such a room existed!"
"She embraced it. She could have indulged in other forms of self-mutilation, but she chose to at least endure the discomfort of the weather."
"All my life, I've been scared of men standing over me."
"For a week, Liesel was kept from the basement at all cost."
"They all watched him, silent, until Papa stood and walked closer."
"As days turned into weeks, there was now, if nothing else, a beleaguered acceptance of what had transpired."
"Life was at least starting to mimic normality with more force."
"As she cut the feathery strands, she wondered at the sound of scissors."
"No sooner had he spoken than he disappeared again, back into the ground."
"Certainly, there's a book called The Whistler, which we really need to discuss."
"Perhaps it was so they could die being right."
"I will never fire a gun. I will not have to."
"Its me, the soldier said to him. Its Pieter."
"Im sure he expected to meet me there and then."
"Usually I need to exert myself, to look through the ceiling when Im inside, but I was lucky in that particular building."
"There were great forests of words had risen throughout Germany... It was a nation of farmed thoughts."
"The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words."
"This isnt cold. He pulled out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth."
"All Im saying is... Scheiss drauf! Shit on them, who cares!"
"And if there are more raids, keep reading in the shelter."
"The book thiefs eyes remained open. She waited for the suffocation of sleep."
"Please, Lord, please. All of them. Even the wrinkles around her eyes were joining hands."
"There were people everywhere on the city street, but the stranger could not have been more alone if it were empty."
"Its just a war, you know. Ive survived one before."
"Youre lucky youre a good man, and generous with the cigarettes."
"The book thief dropped the towel she was holding and replaced it with a single thought. Hes going stealing."
"Stealing is what the army does. Taking your father, and mine."
"It feels good, doesn’t it? To steal something back."
"That, answered Rudy, is the one masterstroke. That’s if a kid walks in while I’m inside. I’ll give it to them to calm them down."
"He was trying to believe it, and that’s never a good sign."
"Lucky there’s another pair in the toolbox, Liesel suggested, and she could see him trying not to laugh, despite himself."
"I guess I’m better at leaving things behind than stealing them."
"On March 9, Rudy exited the house with it when the sirens made their presence felt again in Molching."
"All brutality and reprimand were wrested from her face."
"If you don’t come, I’ll stop coming to read to you, and that means you’ve lost your only friend."
"There must be a place in heaven for those who have been where I have been."
"You said, 'What are you assholes looking at?'"
"I often think my papa is an accordion. When he looks at me and smiles and breathes, I hear the notes."
"Rudy, please, wake up, Goddamn it, wake up, I love you."