Thursday, November 26, 2015

My favourite quotes from Markus Zusak's The Book Thief



I love this book. And I've recently the movie version too, which, I must say, is really not bad at all and I highly recommend them. Both of them. The book and the movie. As I have mentioned before, this is not the most delightful story ever, though there are delightful moments in the story. But this is one that deeply and intensely touches the heart.

These are some of my favourite quotes from the story:
[SPOILER WARNING]
Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.
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.
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 and stories so damning and brilliant.
The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.
If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter.
A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.
I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.
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 are running at me.
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.
His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do - the best ones. The ones who rise up and say "I know who you are and I am ready. Not that I want to go, of course, but I will come." Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places.
Together, they would watch everything that was so carefully planned collapse, and they would smile at the beauty of destruction.
She did not say goodbye. She was incapable, and after a few more minutes at his side, she was able to tear herself from the ground. It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on...
I am haunted by humans.

No comments:

Post a Comment