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When I was growing up, I wanted to be a house painter like my father, but I was always screwing up when I went to work with him. I had a talent for knocking over paint and painting myself into corners. I also realized fairly quickly that painting bored me.

Markus Zusak

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Markus Zusak
Age: 49
Born: 1975
Born: January 1
Novelist
Writer
Sydney
NSW
Father
Painter
House
Quickly
Also
Realized
Wanted
Paint
Screwing
Work
Painting
Knocking
Always
Talent
Fairly
Like
Went
Corners
Growing
Bored

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...and the night is so deep and dark that I wonder if the sun will ever come up.
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...one opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life, and death to more death.
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Fear is shiny. Ruthless in the eyes.
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Each night, Liesel would step outside, wipe the door, and watch the sky. Usually it was like spillage - cold and heavy, slippery and gray - but once in a while some stars had the nerve to rise and float, if only for a few minutes. On those nights, she would stay a little longer and wait. Hello, stars.
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You cannot be afraid, Read the book. Smile at it. It's a great book-the greatest book you've ever read.
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I'm asking you, I'm begging you, could you please shut your mouth for just five minutes? You can imagine the reaction. They ended up in the basement.
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Rosa Hubermann was sitting on the edge of the bed with her husband's accordion tied to her chest. Her fingers hovered above the keys. She did not move. She didn't ever appear to be breathing.
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I want to talk to him. I want to ask him about that girl and if he loved her and still misses her. Nothing, however, exits my mouth. How well do we really let ourselves know each other? There's a long quietness until I finally break it open. It reminds me of someone breaking bread and handing it out. In my case, I hand out a question to my friend.
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I'd been in love with her for years. I never left this suburban town. I didn't go to university. I went to Audrey.
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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.
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When I was a teenager I decided I was going to be a writer and that nothing was going to stop me. It sounds almost villainous. But I knew that was what I wanted.
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Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man's gentleness, his thereness. (p.36)
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The bittersweetness of uncertainty: To win or to lose.
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If I ever leave this place- I'll make sure I'm better HERE first.
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You want to know what I truly look like? I'll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue.
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Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.
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You can do anything when it's not real. When it is real, nothing breaks your fall. Nothing gets between you and the ground.
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Competence was attractive.
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As a child in Sydney, my German Mum and my Austrian Dad would spontaneously tell me stories about what they saw and what they did as children. It was like a piece of Europe coming into our house... Those stories led me to my writing.
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He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world. She was the book thief without the words. Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like rain.
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