Moominvalley in November Quotes

“Lie on the bridge and watch the water flowing past. Or run, or wade through the swamp in your red boots. Or roll yourself up and listen to the rain falling on the roof. It's very easy to enjoy yourself.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“The quiet transition from autumn to winter is not a bad time at all. It's a time for protecting and securing things and for making sure you've got in as many supplies as you can. It's nice to gather together everything you possess as close to you as possible, to store up your warmth and your thoughts and burrow yourself into a deep hole inside, a core of safety where you can defend what is important and precious and your very own. Then the cold and the storms and the darkness can do their worst. They can grope their way up the walls looking for a way in, but they won't find one, everything is shut, and you sit inside, laughing in your warmth and your solitude, for you have had foresight.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“The hemulen woke up slowly and recognised himself and wished he had been someone he didn't know.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“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, Moominvalley in November

“The hemulen woke up slowly and recognised himself and wished he had been someone he didn't know. He felt even tireder than when he went to bed, and here it was -- another day which would go on until evening and then there would be another one and another one which would be the same as all days are when they are lived by a hemulen.

He crept under the bedcover and buried his nose in the pillow, then he shifted his stomach to the edge of the bed where the sheets were cool. He took possession of the whole bed with outstretched arms and legs he was waiting for a nice dream that wouldn't come. He curled up and made himself small but it didn't help a bit. He tried being the hemulen that everybody like, he tried being the hemulen that no one liked. But however hard he tried he remained a hemulen doing his best without anything really coming off. In the end he got up and pulled on his trousers.

The Hemulen didn't like getting dressed and undressed, it gave him a feeling that the days passed without anything of importance happening. Even so, he spent the whole day arranging, organising and directing things from morning till night! All around him there were people living slipshod and aimless lives, wherever he looked there was something to be put to rights and he worked his fingers to the bone trying to get them to see how they ought to live.

It's as though they don't want to live well, the Hemulen thought sadly as he brushed his teeth. He looked at the photograph of himself with his boat which was been taken when the boat was launched. It was a beautiful picture but it made him feel even sadder.

I ought to learn how to sail, the Hemulen thought. But I've never got enough time...

Moominvalley in November
Chapter 5, THE HEMULEN”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“But he thought all the strange words were beautiful, and he had never had a book of his own before.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“I don’t want friends who are kind without really liking me and I don’t want anybody who is kind just so as not to be unpleasant.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Можно лежать на мосту и смотреть, как течет вода. Или бегать, или побродить по болоту в красных сапожках, или же свернуться клубочком и слушать, как дождь стучит по крыше. Быть счастливой очень легко.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Я в отпуске, - упрямо ответил Онкельскрут, - и я могу забывать все, что хочу. Забывать очень приятно. Я собираюсь забыть все, кроме некоторых мелочей, которые очень важны.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Oh say, where lies true lasting happiness?
In evening rest? In friendly glance? 'Tis more:
In sailing from the mire, the reeds, the mast,
The mighty ocean's vastness to adore.
Oh what is life? 'Tis nothing but a dream,
A vast and enigmatic flowing stream.
Such tender feelings fill my heaving breast
I know not how or where they'll come to rest;
My cares are multitudinous and sore,
I long to feel the friendly rudder in my paw.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Есть на свете те, кто остается, и те, кто собирается в путь. И так было всегда. Каждый волен выбирать, покуда есть время, но после, сделав выбор, нельзя от него отступаться.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“The trees stood leafless in the November mist, but for a moment they were all clothed in green.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Хемулът бавно се събуди, осъзна, че това е самият той и му се прииска да бе някой, когото не познава.”
― Tove Jansson, Sent i november

“They disappeared in the swirling snow, lost in that mixed feeling of melancholy and relief that usually accompanies goodbyes.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Don’t fuss, there’s nothing here that’s worse than we are ourselves.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Have you been reading again?’ the Hemulen asked. ‘It’s dangerous to read too much.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Snufkin made a vague gesture, tentatively, and crept in under the shadow of his hat.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Mymble combed and combed. Her hair crackled with small electric sparks.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Toft let the book fall. He didn’t really understand what it was all about and the sentences were so long. But he thought all the strange words were beautiful, and he had never had a book of his own before.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Suddenly summer seemed so far away that it might just as well have never been and the distances between the houses seemed greater and everyone crept inside.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“The rain fell on his green hat and on his raincoat, which was also green, it pittered and pattered everywhere and the forest wrapped him in a gentle and exquisite loneliness.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Hemul sa pomaly zobudil a zistil, že je to on sám. Želal si však byť niekým, koho nepozná.”
― Tove Jansson, Seint í nóvember

“...the thought occurred to him that life was like a river. Some people sailed on it slowly, some quickly, and some capsized. (Hemulen)”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“the Hemulen said. ‘He’s helping me in the garden. Fillyjonk and Mymble ought to keep house for us all, the womenfolk should do these things,”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Подумать только, как легко приходят сегодня мысли, и все кажется таким простым. Стоит только выйти за дверь, сдвинув шляпу на затылок, не правда ли?”
― Туве Янссон, Moominvalley in November

“Хемуль не любил раздеваться и одеваться, это наводило его на мысль, что дни проходят, а ничего значительного не происходит.”
― Туве Янссон, Moominvalley in November

“It's strange how autumn is beautiful, but everything that leads to it is tragic.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November

“Медленный переход осени к зиме вовсе не плохая пора . Это пора , когда нужно собрать, привести в порядок и сложить все свои запасы , которые ты накопил за лето .
А как прекрасно собирать все , что есть у тебя , и складывать поближе к себе, собрать свое тепло и свои мысли, зарыться в глубокую норку — уверенное и надежное укрытие; защищать его как нечто важное, дорогое, твое собственное. А после пусть мороз, бури и мрак приходят, когда им вздумается. Они будут обшаривать стены, искать лазейку, но ничего у них не получится, все кругом заперто, а внутри, в тепле и одиночестве, сидит себе и смеется тот, кто загодя обо всем позаботился. Есть на свете те, кто остается, и те, кто собирается в путь.
И так было всегда. Каждый волен выбирать, покуда есть время, но после, сделав выбор, нельзя от него отступаться.”
― Туве Янссон, Moominvalley in November