Tove Jansson Quotes

I don't like to attach myself to material things.

The older I get, the less I obsess about material stuff. In fact, stuff has become the enemy. There always seems to be more of it than I have storage in my house!

I see what happens when one gets very attached to material things. That's just not what my life is.

I think a closet full of things would actually stress me out.

As human beings we have a tendency when we like something to tie it up and make sure it's there for a long time. I've been working on being able to let things go. I don't think I ever want to buy property again.

I don't like possessions.

The more you own, the more it owns you.

I am totally unattached to material items.

The more you own, the more you know you don't own.

He has missed the finest lesson of culture and experience who has not learned how to enjoy without owning.

The older you get and the wealthier you get, the more complicated life becomes. That's why I have as few material assets as possible. Every material thing you have is more hassle.

The more we have the less we own.

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

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

You spend a good part of your adult life acquiring things: building a home, filling it with objects that please your eye and make you feel comfortable. Then you spend the last part of your life trying to figure out how to get rid of it all.

I cling like a miser to the freedom that disappears as soon as there is an excess of things.

If you own a rug you own too much.

I used to think that having many material things would increase one's stock of happiness. I found that to be completely untrue. The trappings don't make the man at all.

The more wants a man has, the less freedom.

We truly possess only what we are able to renounce; otherwise, we are simply possessed by our possessions.

Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens.

It's great not to be a collector.

But that's how it is when you start wanting to have things. Now, I just look at them, and when I go away I carry them in my head. Then my hands are always free, because I don't have to carry a suitcase.

The things you used to own, now they own you.

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