“...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
Tove Jansson
Born place: in Helsinki, Finland
Born date August 9, 1914
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“He watches me eat for a moment. “Let me see it again.”
“No.”
“Okay.” He pulls a can of carbonated water out of his backpack and pops the lid.
Sometimes I want to punch him. I find the letter and slide it across the table.
He reads it again. It makes me feel all jittery inside.
His eyes flick up. “She likes you.”
I shrug and steal his drink. It tastes like someone drowned an orange in a bottle of Perrier, and I cough.
Rev smiles. “You like her.”
“How can you drink this crap?”
His smile widens. “Is it making you crazy that she won’t reveal herself?”
“Seriously, Rev, do you have any regular water?”
He’s no fool. “What do you want to do?”
I take a long breath and blow it out. I run a hand through my hair. “I don’t know.”
“You know.”
“I want to stake out the grave. This waiting between letters is killing me.”
“Suggest email.”
“She doesn’t want to tell me anything more than her age. She’s not going to give me her email address.”
“Maybe not her real email. But you could set up a private account and give her the address. See if she writes you.”
It’s so simple it’s brilliant. I hate that I didn’t think of it. “Rev, I could kiss you.”
“Brush your teeth first.” He reclaims his bizarre can of water.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, quote from Letters to the Lost
“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
― Paulo Coelho, quote from Alkimist
“But the existence of a cult does not mean that images appropriate to it automatically follow.”
― Robert Hughes, quote from The Shock of the New
“Nearly every aspect of life was subject to some measure of legal restraint. At a local level, you could be fined for letting your ducks wander in the road, for misappropriating town gravel, for having a guest in your house without a permit from the local bailiff.”
― Bill Bryson, quote from Shakespeare: The World as Stage
“It may turn out,’ said the white-haired man a moment later, ‘that their comrades or cronies may ask what befell these evil men. Tell them the Wolf bit them. The White Wolf. And add that they should keep glancing over their shoulders. One day they’ll look back and see the Wolf.’ When,”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, quote from Time of Contempt
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