When she came to write her story, she would wonder when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything.

There were not many people who could say that their education had been paid for with cigarettes.

Why me?' I ask God. God says nothing. I laugh and the stars watch. It's good to be alive.

When a person's last response was Saumensch or Saukerl or Arschloch, you knew you had them beaten.

He's most likely robbing the bank as a paycheck on the world for winning the ugliness prize at his local fete three years running.

You should give it to Max, Liesel. See if you can leave it on the bedside table, like all the other things." Liesel watched him as if he'd gone insane. "How, though?" Lightly, he tapped her skull with his knuckles. "Memorize it. Then write it down for him.

It's not a big thing, but I guess it's true--big things are often just small things that are noticed.