To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly: “Get it done, get it done.” So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more.
Yes, the sky was now a devastating, home-cooked red. The small German town had been flung apart one more time. Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to catch them, taste them. Only, they would have scorched your lips. They would have cooked your mouth.
How’d it feel?” Rube asked himself. “I don’t know exactly, but it made me want to howl.
Make sure you live,′ she said. ‘As decent as you can. I know you’ll make mistakes, but sometimes you’re meant to, okay?
Stars of David were plastered to their shirts, and misery was attached to them as if assigned. “Don’t forget your misery... ” In some cases, it grew on them like a vine.
For two days I went about my business. I travelled the globe as always, handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity.
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be asking such things... ′ She let the sentence die its own death.
Sometimes I imagined how everything looked above those clouds, knowing without question that the sun was blond, and the endless atmosphere was a giant blue eye.
But neither of us knows, because a fight’s worth nothing if you know from the beginning that you’re going to win. It’s the ones in between that test you. They’re the ones that bring questions with them.
Somewhere in all the snow, she could see her broken heart, in two pieces. Each half was glowing, and beating under all that white. She realized her mother had come back for her only when she felt the boniness of a hand on her shoulder. She was being dragged away. A warm scream filled her throat.
What good are the words?
I’ve come to the realization that I really only want to write books that maybe I can’t write.
War clearly blurred the distinction between logic and superstition.
That’s the sort of thing I’ll never know, or comprehend – what humans are capable of.
Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to catch them, taste them. Only, they would have scorched your lips. They would have cooked your mouth.
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.
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.
I always marvel at the humans’ ability to keep going. They always manage to stagger on even with tears streaming down their faces.
A couple of them were school beauty-queen pretty while a few were that more real-looking type. A realer kind of pretty.
He walked from one end of the basement to the other, the lamplight magnifying his shadow. It turned him into a giant on the wall, walking back and forth. When he stopped pacing, his shadow loomed behind him, watching. Someone was always watching.