“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.”

This is said by the first narrator of the book thief, who we know as Death. Death’s meaning behind this is simple, people are not very observant, hence we only notice the bright and red colours of the day, and we miss all the other many shades that appear during the time we are all busy being alive. We get a sense on just how different our narrator is, in two ways. First, he refers to humans as “people” leaning towards him not counting himself one of them. He then says at the end that he “makes it a point to notice them”, “them” being the colours that we all miss. Him saying this tells us that Death is not just a soul carrier who exists only for the job, he either enjoys or just has a respect for the colours, so he pay attention to them when no one else does.

“Here is a small fact. You are going to die”

“I could introduce myself properly, but it’s not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables.”

“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 the rain. (p. 85)”

“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.”

“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.”

“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.”