“One summer morning at sunrise a long time ago I met a little girl with a book under her arm. I asked her why she was out so early and she answered that there were too many books and far too little time. And there she was absolutely right.” LittlesLongBookGirlMorningArmsMetsSummerLong TimeSunriseLong Time AgoLittle Time Author:Tove Jansson
“Anyway, solitary people interest me. There are so many different ways of being solitary.' 'I know just what you mean,' said X. 'I know exactly what you're going to say. Different kinds of solitude. Enforced solitude and voluntary solitude.' 'Quite,' said Viktoria. 'There's no need to go into it further. But when people understand one another without speaking, it can often leave them with very little to talk about, don't you think?” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayNeedsKindMeanLittlesSaidDifferentInterestSolitudeDifferent WaysDifferent KindsSolitary Author:Tove Jansson
“It's a funny thing about bogs. You can fill them with rocks and sand and old logs and make a little fenced-in yard on top with a woodpile and chopping block - but bogs go right on behaving like bogs. Early in the spring they breathe ice and make their own mist, in remembrance of the time when they had black water and their own sedge blossoming untouched.” LittlesBlackWaterRocksSpringBreatheBlockIceSandYardsRemembranceFunny ThingsMistBlossomingChoppingBogs Author:Tove Jansson
“Most of the people are homesick anyway, and a little lonely, and they hide themselves in their hair and are turned into flowers.” PeopleLittlesFlowerHairLonelyHomesick Book:A Winter Book: Selected Stories Source: A Winter Book: Selected Stories
“The lamp sizzled as it burned. It made everything seem close and safe, a little family circle they all knew and trusted. Outside this circle lay everything that was strange and frightening, and the darkness seemed to reach higher and higher and further and further away, right to the end of the world.” WorldLittlesMadeEndsSeemsDarknessStrangeHigherSafeLaysCirclesFrighteningTrustedBurnedLampsEnd Of The World Author:Tove Jansson
“It’s only the sea,’ said Moomintroll. ‘Every wave that dies on the beach sings a little song to a shell. But you mustn’t go inside because it’s a labyrinth and you may never come out again.” MayLittlesSaidSongDiesSeaWaveBeachShellsLabyrinth Book:Comet in Moominland: Can Moomintroll save his beloved valley? Source: Comet in Moominland: Can Moomintroll save his beloved valley?
“Quite, quite,' she thought with a little sigh. 'It's always like this in their adventures. To save and be saved. I wish somebody would write a story sometime about the people who warm up the heroes afterward.” PeopleWritingLittlesStoriesWishAdventureHeroWarmSavedSigh Book:Moominland Midwinter Source: Moominland Midwinter
“There are such a lot of things that have no place in summer and autumn and spring. Everything that’s a little shy and a little rum. Some kinds of night animals and people that don’t fit in with others and that nobody really believes in. They keep out of the way all the year. And then when everything’s quiet and white and the nights are long and most people are asleep—then they appear.” PeopleWayYearsBelieveKindLittlesLongNightWhiteAnimalFitQuietSummerSpringShyAutumnRum Book:Moominland Midwinter Source: Moominland Midwinter
“Now everything was changed. She walked about with cautious, anxious steps, staring constantly at the ground, on the lookout for things that crept and crawled. Bushes were dangerous, and so were sea grass and rain water. There were little animals everywhere. They could turn up between the covers of a book, flattened and dead, for the fact is that creeping animals, tattered animals, and dead animals are with us all our lives, from beginning to end. Grandmother tried to discuss this with her, to no avail. Irrational terror is so hard to deal with.” LittlesBookEndsHardFactsTurnsFearWaterAnimalDealsStepsOur LivesSeaDangerousChangedRainTerrorStaringGrassGrandmotherAnxiousIrrationalCautiousRain Water Author:Tove Jansson
