Nicolas Berggruen Quotes

We think we own things, but the reality is, our things own us.

I don't get that much enjoyment out of saying 'I own it.'

I felt I was owned by possessions.

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.

People like their handbag more than their sofa, and I hate it.

I don't collect things for the sake of collecting. I don't really see the point.

Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner.

Cars and cameras are the two things I let myself be materialistic about. I don't care about other stuff.

As human beings, we're very materialistic and have all this stuff - furs and cars and diamonds and money.

There is no sin coveting things are of no great use or profit, but would show out good and have some grandeur around them.

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.

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

Sometimes it's better to look at things than own them... owning means anxiety and lots of bags to carry around.

The more we have the less we own.

I don't have anything that I treasure at all. They're just things. I tend to buy an awful lot of stuff, like clothes and things. But I wouldn't be bothered if my house burns down tomorrow.

I already own more than any human being needs.

I've collected a lot of things throughout my life, and I think that's more being a hoarder than being passionate about them, and so I've tried to stop that.

A lot of people are obsessed with their possessions, but that's not right. It's OK to own a lot of things as long as you're willing to share them.

I'm not a materialistic person at all, but I always want the next thing; I've got a nice toolbox, but I still want another set of spanners.

Imagine no possessions; I wonder if you can.

If we were to gain God's perspective, even for a moment, and were to look at the way we go through life accumulating and hoarding and displaying our things, we would have the same feelings of horror and pity that any sane person has when he views people in an asylum endlessly beating their heads against the wall.

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

If you own a rug you own too much.

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

The more you own, the more it owns you.