Nicolas Berggruen Quotes

My mom's never owned anything. I always wanted her to own something that she could say, 'This is mine' and feel good about it.

A child's appetite for new toys appeal to the desire for ownership and appropriation: the appeal of toys comes to lie not in their use but in their status as possessions.

I understand the human instinct to want to create a nest and possess things, to show them off, but for me personally, it became less and less interesting.

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

Anything you think you "must have" usually comes to own you.

People feel powerless and useless in the world. But they can buy something. It can give them a sense of value, of power.

Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.

Buying is a profound pleasure.

To be rich nowadays merely means to possess a large number of poor objects.

I've long been interested in looking at the culture of consumerism and also was interested in this connection between the American dream and the house, and the house being kind of the ultimate expression of self and success.

When I was a child, I was very poor and wanted everything. So when I got money, I began buying things.

Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.

When I get a job, I buy one really nice thing to have something to show for it.

Possession hinders enjoyment. It merely gives you the right to keep things for or from others, and thus you gain more enemies than friends.

Possessions are usually diminished by possession.

Private property has made us so stupid and one-sided that an object is only ours when we have it

People like to own things.

People are more naturally protective of what they create than of what they consume.

Nothing retains less of desire in art, in science, than this will to industry, booty, possession.

It all depends on whether you have things, or they have you.

I felt I was owned by possessions.

Money brings some happiness. But after a certain point, it just brings more money.

My boyfriend keeps telling me I've got to own things. So, first I bought this car. And then he told me I oughta get a house. 'Why a house?' 'Well, you gotta have a place to park the car.'

I think I'm actually quite a materialistic person, I value what it takes to make a car or build a nice house. Money does change things, but how it changes people depends on how they react to it.

When you first get money, you buy all these things so no one thinks you're mean, and you spread it around. You get a chauffeur and you find yourself thrown around the back of this car and you think, I was happier when I had my own little car! I could drive myself!