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61 " She was battered and beaten up, and not smiling this time. Liesel could see it on her face. Blood leaked from her nose and licked at her lips. Her eyes had blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. All from the words. From Liesel's words. "
― Markus Zusak , The Book Thief
62 " Rosa Hubermann was sitting on the edge of the bed with her husband's accordion tied to her chest. Her fingers hovered above the keys. She did not move. She didn't ever appear to be breathing. "
63 " Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die. "
64 " Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out. "
65 " Well, have you even tried again? You can’t just sit around waiting for the new world to take it with you. You have to go out and be part of it - despite your past mistakes. "
66 " the threat of Jewish competition was taken away, but so were the Jewish customers "
67 " It could be worse. I could be you. "
68 " a young man is still a boy, and a boy sometimes has the right to be stubborn. "
69 " The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this. "
70 " The orange flames waved at the crowd as paper and print dissolved inside them. Burning words were torn from their sentences. "
71 " 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 rain. "
72 " For a long time, she sat and saw.She had seen her brother die with one eye open, on still in a dream. She had said goodbye to her mother and imagined her lonely wait for a train back home to oblivion. A woman of wire had laid herself down, her scream traveling the street, till it fell sideways like a rolling coin starved of momentum. A young man was hung by a rope made of Stalingrad snow. She had watched a bomber pilot die in a metal case. She had seen a Jewish man who had twice given her the most beautiful pages of her life marched to a concentration camp. And at the center of all of it, she saw the Fuhrer shouting his words and passing them around.Those images were the world, and it stewed in her as she sat with the lovely books and their manicured titles. It brewed in her as she eyed the pages full to the brims of their bellies with paragraphs and words. "
73 " I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what couldI 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.None of those things, however, came out of my mouth.All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I truly know. I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.I am haunted by humans. "
74 " I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. - Liesel Meminger "
75 " He switched off the light, came back and sat in the chair. In the darkness, Liesel kept her eyes open. She was watching the words. "
76 " DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children "
77 " She took a step and didn't want to take any more, but she did. "
78 " 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. "
79 " It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on, coughing and searching, and finding. "
80 " She was like a lone angel floating above the surface of the earth, laughing with delight because she could fly but crying out of loneliness. "