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141 " Of course, I'm being rude. I'm spoiling the ending, not only of the entire book, but of this particular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I don't have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It's the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me. There are many things to think of. There is much story. "
― Markus Zusak , The Book Thief
142 " I like that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It's probably what I love most about writing—that words can be used in a way that's like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They're the best moments in a day of writing—when an image appears that you didn't know would be there when you started work in the morning. "
143 " The words were on their way, and when they arrived, she would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain. "
144 " I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. "
145 " It's hard to not like a man who not only notices the colors, but speaks them. "
146 " 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. "
147 " Please, trust me, I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me. "
148 " Two weeks to change the world, fourteen days to destroy it. "
149 " Sometimes I think my papa is an accordion. When he looks at me and smiles and breathes, I hear the notes. "
150 " You’re a human, you should understand self-obsession. "
151 " It was a year for the ages, like 79, like 1346, to name just a few. Forget the scythe, Goddamn it, I needed a broom or a mop. And I needed a vacation. "
152 " You cannot be afraid, Read the book. Smile at it. It's a great book-the greatest book you've ever read. "
153 " When she came to write her story, she would wonder when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything. "
154 " It's a lot easier, she realized, to be on the verge of something than to actually be it. This would still take time. "
155 " When death captures me," the boy vowed, "he will feel my fist in his face." (31.26) "
156 " He was waving. "Saukerl," she laughed, and as she held up her hand, she knew completely that he was simultaneously calling her a Saumensch. I think that's as close to love as eleven-year-olds can get. "
157 " Make no mistake, the woman had a heart. She had a bigger one that people would think. There was a lot in it, stored up, high in miles of hidden shelving. Remember that she was the woman with the instrument strapped to her body in the long, moon-slit night. "
158 " She was a girl with a mountain to climb. "
159 " The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best word shaker of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be WITHOUT words. "
160 " They were French, they were Jews, and they were you. "