Quotes by Markus Zusak

About Markus Zusak:

Markus Frank Zusak is an Australian writer. He is best known for The Book Thief and The Messenger (US title, I Am the Messenger), two novels for young adults which have been international bestsellers. He won the annual Margaret Edwards Award in 2014 for his contribution to young-adult literature published in the US.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Death waits for no man - and if he does, he doesn't usually wait for very long.

Markus Zusak

Papa was a man with silver eyes, not dead ones. Papa was an accordion! But his bellows were all empty. Nothing went in and nothing came out.

Markus Zusak

Death's Diary: 1942 - It was a year for the ages, like 79, like 1346, to just name a few. Forget the scythe, God damn it, I needed a broom or a mop. And I needed a holiday. (...) They say that war is death's best friend, but I must offer you a differ...

Markus Zusak

On many counts, taking a boy like Rudy Steiner was robbery--so much life, so much to live for--yet somehow, I'm certain he would have loved to see the frightening rubble and the swelling of the sky on the night he passed away. He'd have cried and tur...

Markus Zusak

A SMALL PIECE OF TRUTH I do not carry a sickle or scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it's cold. And I don't have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I'll...

Markus Zusak

A human doesn't have a heart like mine. The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and wors...

Markus Zusak

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.

Markus Zusak

The scribbled signature black, onto the blinding global white, onto the thick soupy red.

Markus Zusak

For two days I went about my business. I travelled the globe as always, handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity.

Markus Zusak

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.

Markus Zusak

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT*** You are going to die.

Markus Zusak

Could she smell my breath? Could she hear my cursed circular heart beat revolving like the crime it is in my deathly chest?

Markus Zusak

And I can promise you something, because it was a thing I saw many years later - a vision in the book thief herself - that as she knelt next to Hans Hubermann, she watched him stand and play the accordion. He stood and strapped it on in the alps of b...

Markus Zusak

I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skills is their capacity to escalate.

Markus Zusak

It’s all very well for such a person to whine and moan and criticize other family members, but they won’t let anyone else do it. That’s when you get your back up and show loyalty.

Markus Zusak

The orange flames waved at the crowd as paper and print dissolved inside them. Burning words were torn from their sentences.

Markus Zusak

... And the boy whose hair remained the color of lemons forever.

Markus Zusak

On June 23, 1942, there was a group of French Jews in a German prison, on Polish soil. The first person I took was close to the door, his mind racing, then reduced to pacing, then slowing down, slowing down.... Please believe me when I tell you that ...

Markus Zusak

A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.

Markus Zusak

When finally she finished and stood herself up, he put his arm around her, best-buddy style, and they walked on. There was no request for a kiss. Nothing like that. You can love Rudy for that, if you like.

Markus Zusak

..As always, she was carrying the washing. Rudy was carrying two buckets of cold water, or as he put it, two buckets of future ice.

Markus Zusak

Author Bio

  • NameMarkus Zusak
  • DescriptionAustralian author
  • BornJune 23, 1975
  • CountryAustralia
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist
  • AwardsMargaret Edwards Award