Literary Birthday - 23 June, Markus Zusak

Happy Birthday, Markus Zusak, born  23 June 1975

Markus Zusak: Top 10 Quotes

1. I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.
2. Sometimes you read a book so special that you want to carry it around with you for months after you’ve finished just to stay near it.
3. It kills me sometimes, how people die.
4. I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
5. A small but noteworthy note. I’ve seen so many young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. They are not. They are running at me.
6. His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do - the best ones. The ones who rise up and say “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. More of them have already found their way to other places.
7. I want words at my funeral. But I guess that means you need life in your life.
8. Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I’d throw them over my shoulder. It was only the the children I carried in my arms.
9. The words were on their way, and when they arrived, she would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain.
10. I like that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It’s probably what I love most about writing—that words can be used in a way that’s like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They’re the best moments in a day of writing — when an image appears that you didn’t know would be there when you started work in the morning.

Zusak is the author of five books, including the international best-seller,The Book Thief, which has been translated into 30 languages. As well as receiving awards in Australia and overseas, The Book Thief held the number one position at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and the New York Times best-seller list. Markus lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and daughter.

source Writers Write