Death

"Liesel did not try to kiss him. She was not so foolish. She simply lay beside him, in the hubris of friendship."

"She had lived a life of words. And she would die having had them on her lips."

"Words like Liesel were power."

"The book thief had struck for the first time—though she was not aware of it yet."

"I am the bearer of the darkest news and yet the announcer of the brightest skies."

"Her feet were bare in the grass, and she never felt so alive."

"She was beginning to lose faith. Faith in people. Faith in words."

"Liesel wanted to scream. At least if she screamed, she might wake up from this dark dream."

"The winter had killed the autumn and the spring was a long way away."

"She was alive. That was all that mattered."

"Death has a way of making people think about what they've left behind."

"Her face was pale but her expression was not. It was full of small, sad smiles."

"Every time she read, the words were different. The meaning was never the same."

"She stole the bread and went hungry—not for months but for years."

"The book thief and the boy next door were linked by something as simple as yellow stars."

"Rosa Hubermann was not a soft woman, but she was kind in her own harsh way."

"Hans Hubermann sat alone. He was guilty, and he was afraid."

"She was the girl who had survived two wars, two languages, and a lifetime of words."

"The Nazis had killed her family and everyone she loved, but they could not kill her spirit."

"She read to him because words were the only things left that mattered."

"In the basement, Max Vandenburg dreamed of words he could never write."

"The accordion played a melody that meant forgiveness."

"Liesel understood that people are made of stories, not of flesh and bone."

"She wrote her own stories to replace the ones that had been stolen from her."

"Death does not care about the living. He only collects them."

"The girl was not beautiful. She was not clever. But she had something that could not be given or earned."

"They burned books as if burning words could burn away the truth."

"She was the opposite of a book thief. She was a word giver."

"In the end, there was only the girl and the words, and nothing else mattered."

"The war had taken everything from her, but it had also given her something precious."