The Book Thief

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Words like Liesel were power."

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

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

"In the darkness, she could feel the words."

"The sky was the color of a human eye."

"She was frightened, and she was guilty, and she couldn't believe that she wasn't being punished."

"I am death. I have watched her. I watched this girl. She stole the book."

"She was the girl who was screaming on the inside."

"Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the broken reflection in that other person's eye."

"Words were her favorite toys, and books had become her dearest friends."

"It was a new feeling for her, a terrible beauty."

"Her face was painted with tiredness, but her eyes were strong."

"I wanted to tell the book thief many things about myself. That I love her."

"The most powerful words are the ones we read in our heads."

"When she stole that book, she was a girl no longer."

"Liesel, accept things. Besides, she wasn't a girl who could be contained."

"I am haunted by humans."

"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."

"I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."