Stealing it, in a sick kind of sense, was like earning it.

I just want to write someone’s favorite book

You'll have days of complete lack of faith in your abilities. But you have to keep coming back. That's when you know you're a writer - when you take the failures and appear at the desk again, over and over again.

I see Death as the part of us that knows all the time that we're going to die, reminding us to live properly.

You might argue that I make the rounds no matter what year it is, but sometimes the human race likes to crank things up a little. They increase the production of bodies and their escaping souls.

The book thief has struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career.

The days and nights come apart. I feel them corroding at the seams.