Quotes by Tove Jansson

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.

You must go on a long journey before you can really find out how wonderful home is.

It was a particularly good evening to begin a book.

I'll have to calm down a bit. Or else I'll burst with happiness.

The thing about God, she thought, is that He usually does help, but not until you've made an effort on your own.

All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured.

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.

August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know.

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.