Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man's gentleness, his thereness. (p.36)

Together, they would watch everything that was so carefully planned collapse, and they would smile at the beauty of destruction.

Rudy handed it back. "Speaking of which, I think we're both slightly in for it when we get home. You especially." "Why me?" "You know- your mama." "What about her?" Liesel was exercising the blatant right of every person who's ever belonged to a family. 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.

Humans have a talent for escalation. -Death

Liesel shrugged away entirely from the crowd and entered the tide of Jews, weaving through them till she grabbed hold of his arm with her left hand. His face fell on her. It reached down as she tripped, and the Jew,the nasty Jew, helped her up. It took all of his strength.

It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on, coughing and searching, and finding.

...one opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life, and death to more death.