Tove Jansson Quotes

″‘It’s funny about love’, Sophia said. ‘The more you love someone, the less he likes you back.’ ‘That’s very true,’ Grandmother observed. ‘And so what do you do?’ ‘You go on loving,’ said Sophia threateningly. ‘You love harder and harder.‘”

“The thing about God, she thought, is that He usually does help, but not until you’ve made an effort on your own.”

“Smell is important. It reminds a person of all the things he’s been through; it is a sheath of memories and security.”

“An island can be dreadful for someone from outside. Everything is complete, and everyone has his obstinate, sure and self-sufficient place. Within their shores, everything functions according to rituals that are as hard as rock from repetition, and at the same time they amble through their days as whimsically and casually as if the world ended at the horizon.”

“Gathering is peculiar, because you see nothing but what you’re looking for. If you’re picking raspberries, you see only what’s red, and if you’re looking for bones you see only the white.”

“You let go of everything and get ready and just dive. You can feel the seaweed against your legs. It’s brown, and the water’s clear, lighter towards the top, with lots of bubbles. And you glide. You hold your breath and glide and turn and come up, let yourself rise and breathe out. And then you float. Just float.”

“Even potted plants got to be a responsibility, like everything else you took care of that couldn’t make decisions for itself.”

“Now everything was changed. She walked about with cautious, anxious steps, staring constantly at the ground, on the lookout for things that crept and crawled. Bushes were dangerous, and so were sea grass and rain water.”

″‘It’s funny about me,’ Sophia said. ‘I always feel like such a nice girl whenever there’s a storm.‘”

″...you can’t depend on people who just let things happen.”

“The Spirits that haunted the trees sat combing their long hair, and on the north side of the tree trunks, baby mice dug tunnels amongst the snowflakes. ‘Happy Spring!’ said an elderly Earthworm.”

“Moomintroll’s mother and father always welcomed all their friends in the same quiet way, just adding another bed and putting another leaf in the dining-room table. And so Moominhouse was rather full- a place where everyone did what they liked and seldom worried about tomorrow.”

“And that was how they found the Hobgoblin’s Hat and took it home with them, without guessing for one moment that this would cast a spell on the Valley of the Moomins, and that before long they would all see strange things...”

″‘Now you’ve got a new piece of furniture again,’ he said, grinning, for Snufkin could never understand why people liked to have things. He was quite happy wearing the old suit he had had since he was born and the only possession he didn’t give away was his mouth-organ.”

“I’m afraid we shall waste an awful lot of time.”

″‘I am the Muskrat,’ said the wretched creature faintly. ‘A philosopher, you know. I should just like to point out that your bridge-building activities have completely ruined my house in the river bank, and although it ultimately doesn’t matter what happens, I must say even a philosopher does not care for being soaked to the skin.‘”

″‘That’s most extraordinary,’ said the Hemulen. ‘But I’m so used to your doing extraordinary things that nothing surprises me.‘”

″‘It’s finished. There isn’t a stamp, or an error that I haven’t collected. Not one. What shall I do now?’ ‘I think I’m beginning to understand,’ said Moomintroll slowly. ‘You aren’t a collector anymore, you’re only an owner, and that isn’t nearly so much fun.‘”

“As everyone knows, if the first butterfly you see is yellow the summer will be a happy one. If it is white then you will just have a quiet summer. Black and brown butterflies should never be talked about- they are much too sad.”

“But this butterfly was golden. ‘What can that mean?’ said Moomintroll. ‘I’ve never seen a golden butterfly before.’ ‘Gold is even better than yellow,’ said the Snork Maiden.”

″‘It’s funny about paths and rivers,’ he mused. ‘You see them go by, and suddenly you feel upset and want to be somewhere else- wherever the path or the river is going, perhaps.‘”

″‘You can carry the provisions,’ he said, ‘because you haven’t got anything else to do, have you? I’m too busy to think about things like that when I’m the Path Pioneer.‘”

″‘It must be the sea!’ exclaimed Moomintroll with a whoop of joy, and he started running upwind, his heart thumping with excitement, for if there is anything Moomintrolls really love, it is swimming.”

“May the ground swallow me up, may old hags rattle my dry bones, and may I never more eat ice cream if I don’t guard this secret with my life.”

″‘Don’t disturb me,’ said Sniff solemnly. ‘This is the biggest moment of my life so far, and it’s my first cave.‘”

“If you fly hundreds and hundreds of miles up into the sky you come to where it isn’t blue anymore. It’s quite black. In the daytime, too.”

″‘And I found something that begins with C and ends with E!’ squeaked Sniff. ‘And somewhere in the middle there’s an A and a V- but I won’t say any more.‘”

“It was only a hole I lived in, but I was happy there. Of course, it’s all the same to a philosopher whether he is happy or not, but it was a good hole...”

“That’s smart, too, but I almost think you look more dignified without a hat.”

“It’s a colorful picture book, telling a simple story of Moomintroll, Little My and her sister the Mymble.”

“She told him and began to yelp. ‘She ran away! Oh, Moomin, help! Moomintroll frowned, ‘Well, let’s begin by checking it she’s in this tin. Some villain might have stashed her in it.’ Now guess what happens in a minute.”

Mymble says, ‘Quick, let’s go. She’ll bite.’ And Moomintroll says, ‘Yes, quite right. Perhaps your sister’s in this cave?’ They tiptoe in. They must be brave. And find poor little My somehow.”

“Mymble is Little My’s sister and Snufkin’s half sister. Their mother is also called Mymble, but being an amiable and helpful big sister, Mymble soon took responsibility for looking after all her younger siblings.”

“A moomin picture book with rhyming text. Little my is missing, so moomin helps her sister Mymble search for her. On the way they meet lots of characters from Moomin valley. ”

“Here’s little Moomintroll, none other, harrying home with milk for mother. Quick, Moomintroll, it’s nearly night. Run home while there’s a bit of light. Don’t hang around in woods like these, strange creatures lurk between the trees.”

“Beyond the forest, bathed in light, the air tastes fresh. The grass glows bright. The sun shines down on fields of flowers. Moomintroll’s walked for hour and hours but, happy to be homeward bound., he kicks his legs and leaps around.”

“That’s not a roof or chimney pot- It’s Mymble’s hair, tied in a knot! She is weeping on a big tin can, Poor thing, thought Moomintroll, and ran to Mymble, begging, ‘Please don’t cry! ‘I’ve lost my sister, little My.”

“This rhyming story, strongly reminiscent of Dr. Seuss, has Moomintroll, the Mymble’s Daughter, and Little My traveling trying to get home to Moominmamma with the milk she asked for. ”

“Among the boulders piled up high there is no sign of Little My. They searched and search but find no trace. The bitter wind whips Mymble’s face. Moomintroll feels extremely glum. He wants his home, his bed, his mum. Where is the warm and sunny day?”