POSSESSIONS QUOTES

quotations about possessions

Possessions quote

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

Tags: E. H. Chapin


Possession of anything begins in the mind.

BRUCE LEE

Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Tags: Bruce Lee


Possessions are generally diminished by possession.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

The Gay Science

Tags: Friedrich Nietzsche


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

Tags: Lord Byron


Complete possession is proved only by giving.

ANDRÉ GIDE

Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality

Tags: André Gide


The things you own end up owning you.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK

Fight Club

Tags: Chuck Palahniuk


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"

Tags: John Lennon


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

Tags: Walter Benjamin


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

Tags: James Russell Lowell


Trying to satisfy one's desires with possessions is like putting out a fire with straw.

CONFUCIUS

attributed, Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom

Tags: Confucius


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


A man has not possession of that of the existence of which he is unaware.

J. COW

The Queen v. Ashwell


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


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

Tags: William Shakespeare


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