Quotes from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“...now and then a giggling trail of mermaids appeared in our wake. We fed them oatmeal.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“I cannot stress enough the perils of your friends marrying or becoming court inventors. One day you are all a society of outlaws, adventurous comrades and companions who will be pushing off somewhere or other when things become tiresome; you have all the world to choose from, just by looking at the map… And then, suddenly, they’re not interested any more. They want to keep warm. They’re afraid of rain. They start collecting big things that can’t fit in a rucksack. They talk only of small things. They don’t like to make sudden decisions and do something contrariwise. Formerly they hoisted sail; now they carpenter little shelves for porcelain mugs.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“...by and by a change came: I started to muse about the shape of my nose. I put my trivial surroundings aside and mused more and more about myself, and I found this to be a bewitching occupation. I stopped asking and longed instead to speak of my thoughts and feelings. Alas, there was no one besides myself who found me interesting.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Well,' said Hodgkins, 'perhaps he really is interested in everything, only he doesn't overdo it. For ourselves there is always one single interest. You want to become. I want to do. My nephew wants to have. But the Joxter just lives.'

'Simply lives,' I said. 'Anybody can do that.'

'Mphm,' Hodgkins said.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“We sat talking on a rock. The air was filled with the tang of sea-weed and of something else that could only have been the ocean smell. I felt so happy that I wasn't even afraid it wouldn't last.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“-Oletko sinä onnellinen? minä kysyin.
-Hyvältä tuntuu, mutisi Fredrikson ja katsoi hämillään merelle. (Siitä tiesin että hän oli kauhean onnellinen.)”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“она была цельной натурой, начисто лишённой нюансов”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“-Kylve joessa! Hiekkapohja! Ihanan pehmeä! ulvoi Fredrikson.
-Valhetta ja petosta, sanoi drontti Edvard. -Pienin tuittukin tietää, että joki on raivostuttavan täynnä kiviä!
-Eikä ole! Hiekkapohja! Fredrikson huusi.
Drontti mutisi hetken itsekseen ja sanoi lopulta:
-Hyvä on. Minä kylven siinä sinun mörönmoisessa joessasi. Siiryhän syrjään, minulla ei ole varaa kustantaa enää hautajaisia. Ja jos petät minua, senkin täinmuna, saat maksaa hautajaisesi itse!”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Numero 67 oli granaateilla koristettu samppanjavispilä. Lisäksi olin voittanut hainhampaan, säilötyn savurenkaan ja koristellun posetiivin kammen. Voitteko käsittää onneani!?”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Слово за слово, и я узнал, что племянника зовут Шнырёк и что родители его погибли во время генеральной уборки.

И вообще, как обстоит дело с вашим воспитанием? Вы воспитаны или нет? А может, вы так и родились трудновоспитуемыми?

- Каком-каком? - переспросил Фредриксон с заметным интересом.
И я очень тому обрадовался, потому что впервые услышал разумный, интеллигентный вопрос.

- Ведут порочный образ жизни? - очень заинтересовался я. - Что это значит?
- Точно не знаю. Наверно, топчут чужие огороды и пьют пиво.

- Подождите немного, - попросил Снусмумрик. - Моему папе что - нравилась эта круглая Мюмла?
- Еще бы! - отвечал Муми-папа. - Они носились повсюду вдвоем и хохотали, когда надо и не надо.

- Извините, а дикие звери здесь водятся? - спросил Шнырек.
- Гораздо хуже, - прошептала Мюмла. - Пятьсот процентов гостей бесследно исчезают! Просто жуть. Ну, я пошла. Привет!”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Не могу со всей силой не подчеркнуть опасность, когда кто-либо из ваших друзей возьмёт да женится или возьмёт да станет придворным изобретателем. Вот ты являешься членом Нелегальной Колонии, окружён искателями приключений, готовыми пуститься в путь, как только им взгрустнётся, и у тебя обширный выбор — вся карта мира...
...И вдруг всё это их уже не интересует. Они хотят сидеть в тепле. Они боятся дождя. Они начинают собирать всякие большие вещи, которые нельзя упаковать, и болтают о пустяках. Им слабо внезапно решиться и переиначить свою жизнь. Прежде они ставили паруса, а теперь кропают этажерки для фарфора. О, можно ли без слёз говорить о подобных вещах!”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“По большей части мы любим приятно переменчивое и прихотливое, неожиданное и своеобразное: берег, который есть немного суши и немного воды, закат, который есть немного темноты и немного света, и весну, которая есть немного прохлады и немного тепла.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Меня томило ужасное ощущение, будто великие приключения беспрестанно следуют одно за другим там, где меня нет, — грандиозные, колоритные приключения, которые никогда больше не повторяются.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Myötätunnostani huolimatta en kuitenkaan pystynyt syventymään hänen ongelmiinsa - niin, kaikesta huolimatta on muutamia harvoja aloja, joilla lahjakkuuteni ei ole sitä tasoa kuin voisi odottaa, ja yksi niistä on koneoppi.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Мир тогда был большой-пребольшой, а всё мелкое — маленьким на более приятный манер, чем ныне, и нравилось мне гораздо больше.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Доброе утро! — сказал я. — Я одинокий беглец, родившийся под совершенно особенным расположением звёзд.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominpappa's Memoirs

About the author

Popular quotes

“1496: La Conceptión Sacrilege Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher’s brother and lieutenant, attends an incineration of human flesh. Six men play the leads in the grand opening of Haiti’s incinerator. The smoke makes everyone cough. The six are burning as a punishment and as a lesson: They have buried the images of Christ and the Virgin that Fray Ramon Pane left with them for protection and consolation. Fray Ramon taught them to pray on their knees, to say the Ave Maria and Paternoster and to invoke the name of Jesus in the face of temptation, injury, and death. No one has asked them why they buried the images. They were hoping that the new gods would fertilize their fields of corn, cassava, boniato, and beans. The fire adds warmth to the humid, sticky heat that foreshadows heavy rain. (103)”
― Eduardo Galeano, quote from Genesis

“[Parker] ”We know why I kissed you last night, Maris.”
“To frighten me off.”
He frowned. “That doesn’t even merit an argument. I kissed you because you braved Terry’s and showed up everybody in the place, including me. I kissed you because just looking at you made me ache. I kissed you because I’m a rotten son of a bitch and your mouth looked so goddamn kissable. Simply put, I kissed you because I wanted to. It’s something I admit and you damn well know. But there is one question that’s driving me fucking crazy.”
His eyes focused harder on hers and, by doing so, penetrated. “Why did you kiss me back?”
― Sandra Brown, quote from Envy

“Everybody has a soul." I turn to Pelly. "And that means you, too."
"I'm not so sure of that," he says. "What does it feel like?"
"Having a soul?" I look at Maxine, but she only shrugs. "I don't know," I tell Pelly. "I don't have anything to compare it to- you know, what not having a sould would feel like."
We fall into a kind of awkward silence. I don't know about the others, but I'm working on what a soul is and not coming up with a whole lot. I mean, I just always thought of it as me- what I feel like being me. But surely Pelly feels like himself, so that means he's got a soul right? But if that's not your soul, then what is?
It's weird and not something you really think about, is it?”
― Charles de Lint, quote from The Blue Girl

“There always have been and there always will be people who have been corrupted into enjoying any excuse for cruelty.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish

“By now, you know everything about Jackson Clarke, probably way more than anyone on earth wants to hear. This is all I have to add:

I still think about him every day.
When I see him, my heart jumps up in my chest.
I long for him to talk to me, and whenever he even says hello, I feel a thousand times worse than I did before.
I wish he was dead.
I wish he still liked me.”
― E. Lockhart, quote from The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.