POSSESSIONS QUOTES
quotations about possessions
How many men you see in this world who have become merely the pack-horses of their own possessions; who go through life the veriest slaves to that which they toil for, wasting their health and strength, and, it may be, their higher powers--even their consciences and souls--in the mere effort to accumulate! How many men of this sort you see stumbling along in life like a camel with his load! In fact you do not see the man himself--only the pack of his possessions on his back. He finds it hard work to squeeze through the needle's eye; and when he dies he is hardly missed; for that by which he was known--that of which he was the slave, and not the master--remains behind.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
Possession of anything begins in the mind.
BRUCE LEE
Tao of Jeet Kune Do
Possessions are generally diminished by possession.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
The Gay Science
An object in possession seldom retains the same charms which it had when it was longed for.
PLINY THE YOUNGER
Epistles
I die--but first I have possess'd,
And come what may, I have been bless'd.
LORD BYRON
The Giaour
Complete possession is proved only by giving.
ANDRÉ GIDE
Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality
The things you own end up owning you.
CHUCK PALAHNIUK
Fight Club
The thing you possess is worth more than two you may have in the future. The one is sure and the other is not.
JEAN DE LA FONTAINE
Fables
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
JOHN LENNON
"Imagine"
Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.
WALTER BENJAMIN
Selected Writings
What we wear, eat, dwell in, drive, and use all express who we are and what we are. Possessions are symbolic expressions of ourselves.
LUKE TIMOTHY JOHNSON
Sharing Possessions: Mandate and Symbol of Faith
Aspiration sees only one side of every question; possession, many.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
Among my Books, New England Two Centuries Ago
Trying to satisfy one's desires with possessions is like putting out a fire with straw.
CONFUCIUS
attributed, Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom
The belongings people accumulate throughout their lives will always own them. People seem to think if they had more they'd be happier or freer, but their possessions only chain them to the earth.
SARAH NOFFKE
Awoken
Already, in the last few decades, you have realized the utter futility of of encumbering yourselves with superfluous possessions that have no useful virtue, but which, for various sentimental reasons, you continue to hoard, thus lessening your life's efficiency by using for it time and attention that should have been applied to the practical work of life's accomplishments.
CLARE WINGER HARRIS
The Dreaming Sex: Early Tales of Scientific Imagination by Women
A man has not possession of that of the existence of which he is unaware.
J. COW
The Queen v. Ashwell
Possession is very strong; rather more than nine points of the law.
LORD MANSFIELD
Corporation of Kingston-upon-Hull v. Horner
That what we have we prize not to the worth
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost,
Why, then we rack the value, then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us
While it was ours.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Much Ado About Nothing
I think virtual possessions pose some interesting challenges. When our books, records, communications, photos, greeting cards, and much of our social lives are now digital as well as able to be copied and sent anywhere in the world instantly, how does this change our feelings about owning such things? Is a digital collection of music, books, or photos regarded differently than their former tangible equivalents? Is a gift of digital music as valued as a CD, DVD, or vinyl record with the same music? What does digitization do to our willingness and propensity to share these things?
RUSSELL W. BELK
interview, The Science of Ownership
When the grave shall have swallowed me up, when darkness and silence come upon me, what will then remain of my earthly possessions?
CHRISTOPH CHRISTIAN STURM
Reflections on the Works of God and of His Providence Throughout All Nature