QuoteProject
Sometimes you get the cynical person saying, 'Do we really need another book set in Nazi Germany?' But I think you just have to ask, 'Is this a story worth telling?'
Markus Zusak
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The value of a story is determined by its worth, not its setting or repetition.

Markus Zusak's quote highlights the importance of storytelling, emphasizing that the merit of a narrative lies in its ability to convey meaning and evoke emotions, rather than simply its historical context or whether similar stories have been told before. It suggests we should focus on the significance and impact of a story rather than dismissing it based on its familiar backdrop of Nazi Germany.

Themes

StorytellingNarrativeNazi GermanyWorthTelling

In practice

Example use cases

In a writing workshop, to encourage participants to explore unique stories despite familiar themes.

More from Markus Zusak

Just be patient, she told herself, and with the mounting pages, the strength of her writing fist grew.
Markus ZusakRead
It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow. Like it has pulled it on, the way you pull on a sweater. Next to the train line, footprints were sunken to their shins. Trees wore blankets of ice. As you may expect, someone has died.
Markus ZusakRead
Because you don't learn anything unless you can find the patience to read. TV takes that away from you. It robs you from your mind.
Markus ZusakRead
Or had she always loved him? It's likely. Restricted as she was from speaking, she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to drag her hand across and pull her over. It didn't matter where. Her mouth, her neck, her cheek. Her skin was empty for it, waiting.
Markus ZusakRead
I think it's a mistake to think, 'Am I going to write a young adult book, or do I desperately want to write a book for adults?' I think the better ambition is to try to write someone's favorite book, because those categorizations of adult, young adult, become kind of superfluous.
Markus ZusakRead
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. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.
Markus ZusakRead

Similar quotes

The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They, indeed, are not great writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
As for fame, fame felt like nothing. Fame was not a sensation like love or hunger or loneliness, welling from within and invisible to the outside eye. It was rather entirely external, coming from the minds of others. It existed in the way people looked at him or behaved towards him. In that, being famous was no different from being gay, or Jewish, or from a visible minority: you are who you are, and then people project onto you some notion they have.
Yann MartelRead
Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.
Bertrand RussellRead
I obviously don't feel under pressure to look young, because I have had no Botox or surgery. I don't judge people who choose to have it, but I don't want to erase who I am.
Diane Von FurstenbergRead
Freedom can be manifested only in the void of beliefs, in the absence of axioms, and only where the laws have no more authority than a hypothesis.
Emile M. CioranRead
A liberal to me is one who - and it suits some of the dictionary definitions - is unbeholden to any specific belief or party or group or person, but makes up his or her mind on the basis of the facts and the presentation of those facts at the time. That defines what I am.
Walter CronkiteRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.