The Book Thief - Quote Compendium

Quote Compendium: The Book Thief

Whilst reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I found so many beautiful quotes that I want to share with everyone. Be aware of spoilers, they may appear here and there, if you're thinking of reading this novel anytime soon, or watching the movie. Also, the page number is included with each quote and the chapter name.


Small note: I have the Picador paperback edition with 584 pages with the motion picture cover.

A Small Theory:

People observe the colours of the 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 colours. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.

- Page 5, Death and Chocolate

A Definition Not Found In The Dictionary: 

Not leaving: An act of trust and love, often deciphered by children.
- Page 38, The Woman with the Iron Fist

Rudy was always destined to be Liesel's best friend. A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.
- Page 50, The Kiss

The Only Thing Worse Than A Boy Who Hates You:

A boy who loves you.
- Page 53, The Kiss

He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world.
She was the book thief without words.
Trust me, though, 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 the rain.
- Page 85, The Heavyweight Champion of the Schoolyard

Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.
- Page 91, A Girl made of Darkness

I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sandcastles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.
- Page 118, 100% Pure German Sweat

A Small But Noteworthy 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.
- Page 189, The Accordionist

You see?
Even death has a heart.
- Page 262, The Floating Book (Part 1)

How about a kiss, Saumensch?
He stood waist-deep in the water for a few moments longer before climbing out and handing her the book. His pants clung to him, and he did not stop walking. In truth, I think he was afraid. Rudy Steiner was scared of the book thief's kiss. 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.
- Page 326, The Floating Book (Part 2)

Sometimes, I imagined how everything appeared above these clouds, knowing without questions that the sun was blond, and the endless atmosphere was a giant blue eye.
- Page 374, Death's Diary: The Parisians

If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter and bread with only the scent of jam spread on top of it.
- Page 382, Champagne and Accordions

A Nice Thought:

One was a book thief.
The other stole the sky.
- Page 409, The Sky Stealer

He made three separate formations that led to the same tower of dominoes in the middle. Together, they would watch everything that was so carefully planned collapse, and they would all smile, at the beauty of destruction.
- Page 434, Dominoes and Darkness

My heart is so tired.
- Page 435, The Promise-Keeper's Wife

It kills me sometimes, how people die.
- Page 494, The Card Player

There were people everywhere on the city street, but the stranger could not have been more alone if it had been empty.
- Page 504, The Ageless Brother

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. Still they have one thing that I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.
- Page 522, One Toolkit, One Blender, One Bear

She was saying goodbye and she didn't even know it.
- Page 550, Confessions

I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.
- Page 562, The Ribcage Planes

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, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers. Her hands were trembling, her lips were fleshy, and she leaned in once more, this time losing control and misjudging it. Their teeth collided on the demolished world of Himmel Street.
Page 570, The End of the World (Part 2)

Liesel came out.
They hugged and cried and fell to the floor.
- Page 582, Max

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 so damning and brilliant.
- Page 584, The Handover Man

I am haunted by humans.
- Page 584, The Handover Man