On many counts, taking a boy like Rudy Steiner was robbery--so much life, so much to live for--yet somehow, I'm certain he would have loved to see the frightening rubble and the swelling of the sky on the night he passed away. He'd have cried and turned and smiled if only he could have seen the book thief on her hands and knees, next to his decimated body. He'd have been glad to witness her kissing his dusty, bomb-hit lips. Yes, I know it. In the darkness of my dark-beating heart, I know. He'd have loved it all right. You see? Even death has a heart. . Markus Zusak
About This Quote

During the Great Depression, a young boy named Rudy Steiner died in the rubble of St. Paul, Minnesota. His family buried him in his favorite blue suit and placed a body pillow under his headstone. But over the years, Rudy's mother kept the pillow's cover on it, thinking he would someday require it.

She kept that pillow for 60 years until she donated it to the Minnesota State Historical Society. After that, she passed away, but not before sharing one final memory with her son. Her last words were: "On many counts, taking a boy like Rudy Steiner was robbery--so much life, so much to live for--yet somehow, I'm certain he would have loved to see the frightening rubble and the swelling of the sky on the night he passed away.

He'd have cried and turned and smiled if only he could have seen the book thief on her hands and knees, next to his decimated body. He'd have been glad to witness her kissing his dusty, bomb-hit lips."

Source: The Book Thief

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings. - Unknown
  2. My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will... - Charles Bukowski
  3. If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled? - Jodi Picoult
  4. Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect. - J.k. Rowling
  5. Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone. - Mitch Albom
More Quotes By Markus Zusak
  1. The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.
  2. He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry.
  3. A DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children
  4. She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Leisel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit...
  5. If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter.
Related Topics