"One fine day, in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other. They pulled out their swords and shot one another. One deaf cop, on the beat heard the noise, and came and shot the two dead boys."

"What’s the old saying? Ah, I remember now. ‘Curiosity flayed the cat alive, ripped it apart limb from limb, and listened to it scream before it killed it.’ That’s the one."

"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."

"She collected herself, and rose from the floor. “Until you have a better grasp on what we’re dealing with here, I’d appreciate your immediate proximity.”I did as she asked. She was the expert, after all.But what a terrifying thought, that the world’s foremost expert knew only enough to live in horror."

"The easiest thing for a person is to accept everything as it is and adjust with everyone in the surroundings by sacrificing or compromising originality, but it's also the worst thing if he proclaims that he has changed himself."

"The practice of cultivating altruism has a beneficial effect not only from the religious point of view but also from the mundane point of view, not only for long term spiritual development but even in terms of immediate rewards."