305 Quotes by Tove Jansson

Those damn Moomins. I don't want to hear about them any more. I could vomit on the Moomintrolls.

People idealise their animals, and at the same time they patronisingly overlook a dog's natural life - biting fleas, burying bones, rolling in garbage, barking up an empty tree all night... But what do they do themselves? Bury stuff that will rot in secret and then dig it up and bury it again and rant and rave under empty trees!

Mummy weighed sweets and nuts so that everyone would get exactly the same amount. During the year, everything is measured roughly, but at Christmas, it has to be absolutely fair. That's why it's such a strenuous time.

You can't ever be really free if you admire somebody too much.

Dogs are mute and obedient, but they have watched us and know us and can smell how pitiful we are.

One makes a trip by day, but by night one sets out on a journey.

Sometimes it's better to look at things than own them... owning means anxiety and lots of bags to carry around.

A theatre is the most important sort of house in the world because that's where people are shown what they could be if they wanted and what they'd like to be if they dared to and what they really are.

It was the winter of war, in 1939. It felt completely pointless to try to create pictures... I suddenly felt an urge to write down something that was to begin with 'Once upon a time.'