If ever there was a year for literary celebrations, this is it. Last month we shared our top 10 quotations from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. We’re now back with more pearls of wisdom for The Moomins’ 70th anniversary.
The first Moomins book (Moomins and the Great Flood) was published in Swedish in 1945, at the end of the second world war. But Jansson’s books about these four incomparable fluffy creatures didn’t meet real success until later titles, where more characters were introduced.
Growing up in a liberal family of artists, her upbringing is said to have inspired the Moomin characters. Moominpapa, Moominmama and Moomintroll are a family whose diverse friends (Sniff, Snork, Snufkin and others) often visit, accompanying them through different adventures and discoveries about life.
From this nine-book microcosm Tove Jansson’s fantastical realm has blended with reality, thanks to venues such as Moominworld – a Moomin-themed park located in the city of Naantali in Finland. The Moomins are a landmark of Scandinavian literature, but they’re also an international phenomenon, having been translated worldwide and adapted into various formats (including the recent Moomins On the Riviera film).
Today we revel in Jansson’s unique voice as a writer and illustrator with our favourite quotations!
“There’s no need to imagine that you’re a wondrous beauty, because that’s what you are.”
(Moominsummer Madness)
“I do not understand why the heroine in the book is always prettier than the one at home.”
(Tales from Moominvalley)
“That’s most extraordinary, but I’m so used to your doing extraordinary things that nothing surprises me. Besides I’m feeling melancholy just now.”
(Finn Family Moomintroll)
“They were indescribably beautiful, and they seemed to be aware of it. They danced coquettishly, freely and openly, for themselves, for each other, for the island, for the sea – it seemed to be all the same to them.
(Moominpappa at Sea)
I had now found my first friend, and so my life was truly begun.
“But one needs a change sometimes. We take everything too much for granted, including each other.”
(Moominpappa at Sea)
“One has to discover everything for oneself. And get over it all alone.”
(Moominland Midwinter)
“I have every respect for your deductions, but you are wrong, completely and absolutely, and without any doubt.”
(Finn Family Moomintroll)
“You must go on a long journey before you can really find out how wonderful home is.”
(Comet in Moominland)
Our final quotation isn’t from the Moomins, but was too wonderful to leave out!
“The thing about God, she thought, is that He usually does help, but not until you’ve made an effort on your own.”
(The Summer Book)
Let us know if we’ve missed out on other great Moomins quotations by emailing childrens.books@theguardian.com or on Twitter @GdnChildrensBks.
But what about "All nice things are good for you" as Moominmama said, @GdnChildrensBks https://t.co/w4VxORzE0N
— Veep (@PrincessofVP) May 22, 2015
David, by email
From The Exploits of Moominpappa:
“’Courage!’ I cried. ‘The Moomins are coming! There’s something rotten in
a country that allows its Grokes to eat the citizens!”
James, by email
“All nice things are good for you” – Moominmamma
“All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured.” – Moominland Midwinter #MoominQuotes @GdnChildrensBks
— SF Said (@whatSFSaid) May 22, 2015
Elena, on email
“I only want to live in peace and plant potatoes and dream!” - Moomintroll (from the comic strip).
@GdnChildrensBks "Who will comfort Toffle and remind him that a song is better than a suitcase when the road is hard and long" #moomins
— Sugar Down Bakery (@settledown) May 23, 2015
Aliisa, on email
“Do you know the difference between the first and the last love? One always holds the first one for the last one and the last again for the first one...”, from the German Moomin comic strip.
Martin, on email
“Life is short, the world is enormous.”