Moominpappa's Memoirs Quotes

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

“For if you’re not afraid how can you really be brave?”
― Tove Jansson, 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, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“A new door to the Unbelievable, to the Possible, a new day that can always bring you anything if you have no objection to it.”
― Tove Jansson, The Exploits of Moominpappa

“Can you win anything better than the useless rewards of a fantastical imagination?”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“In my opinion, one should always make the most out of an awful situation”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“How does one get famous?" the Joxter asked.
"Oh, just by doing something that nobody else has been able to do.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“I mean, something has to go wrong before you know a law is called for. (Hodgkins)”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“I believe it's a bore to be famous," said the Joxter. "Perhaps it's fun at first, but then I suppose you get used to it, and soon you're sick of it. Like on a merry-go-round.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Life is short, the world is enormous. (Moominpappa)”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“When you were small you wanted to know. Now you want to become. I want to do.”
― Tove Jansson, The Exploits of Moominpappa: Described by Himself

“My modesty compels me to admit that there are three fields where my genius appears to feel somewhat cramped, namely, engineering, mathematics, and cookery. (Moominpappa)”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“I felt so happy that I wasn’t even afraid it wouldn’t last”
― Tove Jansson, The Exploits of Moominpappa: Described by Himself

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

“A new day, when everything may happen if you have no objection to it.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Dear reader, do you understand me? I was shut in, but an outsider nevertheless, and finally I felt myself to be nothing at all, and there was nothing but gales and rain.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Alas, there was no one besides myself who found me interesting.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“[The] fireflies are embroidering their mysterious signs on the velvet dark. Perishable flourishes of a short but happy life!”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“Well,” said Hodgkins, “perhaps he is really 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.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“My head was awhirl with thoughts I really had no need of, and for the first time I found no pleasure at all in thinking about myself. I had sunk into a state of deep gloom, which has also come over me at times later in my life when other people are achieving more than I myself.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“I very nearly wished that I had been born a Hattifattener under the Hattifatteners' vague and drifting stars, and that no one expected anything else of me than that I also should be drifting along toward an unattainable horizon, never speaking to anyone and never mindful of anything.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“I very nearly wished that I had been born a Hatti-fattener under the Hattifatteners' vague and drifting stars, and that no one expected anything else of me than that I also should be drifting along toward an unattainable horizon, never speaking to anyone and never mindful to anything.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

“...for if you're not afraid how can you be really brave? (Moominpappa)”
― Tove Jansson, Moominpappa's Memoirs

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

“она была цельной натурой, начисто лишённой нюансов”
― Туве Янссон, Moominpappa's Memoirs