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Tove Jansson Quotes
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It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity and you let yourself die. It's as simple as that.
Tove Jansson
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All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured.
Tove Jansson
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The lamp sizzled as it burned. It made everything seem close and safe, a little family circle they all knew and trusted. Outside this circle lay everything that was strange and frightening, and the darkness seemed to reach higher and higher and further and further away, right to the end of the world.
Tove Jansson
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All men have parties and are pals who never let each other down. A pal can say terrible things which are forgotten the next day. A pal never forgives, he just forgets, and a woman forgives but never forgets. That's how it is. That's why women aren't allowed to have parties. Being forgiven is very unpleasant.
Tove Jansson
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Quite, quite,' she thought with a little sigh. 'It's always like this in their adventures. To save and be saved. I wish somebody would write a story sometime about the people who warm up the heroes afterward.
Tove Jansson
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A theatre is the most important sort of house in the world, because that's where people are shown what they could be if they wanted, and what they'd like to be if they dared to and what they really are
Tove Jansson
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It's only the sea,' said Moomintroll. 'Every wave that dies on the beach sings a little song to a shell. But you mustn't go inside because it's a labyrinth and you may never come out again.
Tove Jansson
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You believe it's cold, but if you build yourself a snowhouse it's warm. You think it's white, but at times it looks pink, and another time it's blue. It can be softer than anything, and then again harder than stone. Nothing is certain.
Tove Jansson
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Everything's much too big here,' thought Moominmamma. 'Or perhaps I'm too small.
Tove Jansson
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They were always doing something. Quietly, without interruption, and with great concentration, they carried on with the hundred-and-one small things that made up their world.
Tove Jansson
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But he thought all the strange words were beautiful, and he had never had a book of his own before.
Tove Jansson
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I'll have to calm down a bit. Or else I'll burst with happiness
Tove Jansson
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One ought to have the right to have a secret and to spring it as a surprise. But if you live inside a family you have neither.
Tove Jansson
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Dogs are mute and obedient, but they have watched us and know us and can smell how pitiful we are.
Tove Jansson
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When Mats came in the evenings, they would drink tea in the kitchen while reading their books and talking about them. If Katri came in, they were quiet and waited for her to leave. The back door would close, and Katri would have gone. Does your sister read our books? Anna wanted to know. No. She reads literature.
Tove Jansson
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You can't always be friendly. It's impossible, there isn't the time.
Tove Jansson
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Everyone must imagine his own snakes because no one else's snakes can ever be as awful.
Tove Jansson
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One makes a trip by day, but by night one sets out on a journey.
Tove Jansson
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There's no need to imagine that you're a wondrous beauty, because that's what you are.
Tove Jansson
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Making a journey by night is more wonderful than anything in the world.
Tove Jansson
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And it's a risky thing to talk about one's most secret dreams a bit too early.
Tove Jansson
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Some people just shouldn't be disturbed in their inclinations, whether large or small. A reminder can instantly turn enthusiasm into aversion and spoil everything.
Tove Jansson
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There are those who stay at home and those who go away, and it has always been so. Everyone can choose for himself, but he must choose while there is still time and never change his mind.
Tove Jansson
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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.
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Most of the people are homesick anyway, and a little lonely, and they hide themselves in their hair and are turned into flowers.
Tove Jansson
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Quote of the day
Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.
Faith Baldwin
Tove Jansson
Born:
August 9, 1914
Died:
June 27, 2001
(aged 86)
Bio:
Tove Marika Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. For her contribution as a children's writer she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966.
Known for:
The Summer Book (1972)
Finn Family Moomintroll (1948)
Moominland Midwinter (1957)
The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945)
Most used words:
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thought
strange
night
free
small
journey
time
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