35 Quotes About Possession And Ownership

In the tapestry of human experience, the concepts of possession and ownership weave an intricate pattern, touching nearly every facet of our lives. From tangible items like our homes and cherished keepsakes to the intangible sense of belonging and control, possession and ownership shape our world in profound ways. This curated collection of quotes dives into the diverse perspectives and wisdom surrounding these themes, offering insights that challenge, inspire, and provoke thought. Whether you're reflecting on personal values or exploring the societal implications, these quotes are sure to resonate with anyone contemplating the true meaning of owning and possessing. Join us as we journey through the words of thinkers, philosophers, and writers who have delved into the essence of what it means to possess and own.

1. “Buffy Summers: (to Spike) "I could NEVER be your girl!” - Buffy the Vampire Slayer writers

2. “Whom have I in heaven but you and earth possesses nothing I desire besides you"-Psalm 73:25” - Anonymous

3. “I knew, as every peasant does, that land can never be truly owned. We are the keepers of the soil, the curators of trees.” - Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

4. “What is it about possessing things? Why do we feel the need to own what we love? And why do we become such jerks when we do? We've all been there. You want something, you possess it - and by possessing it, you lose it. ” - Louis Chunovic

5. “When one has nothing to lose, one becomes courageous. We are timid only when there is something we can still cling to.” - Don Juan

6. “Ta cała psychiatria to nic innego, jak tylko swoisty mikrokosmos komunizmu [...]. Lepiej by zostawili ludziom ich kłopoty osobiste. Nasuwa się bowiem pytanie, czy kłopoty nie są jedyną rzeczą na świecie, którą ludzie mogą mieć na własność?” - Vladimir Nabokov

7. “Oh no." I said panic rising in my chest. "No, no, no, Somebody get a can opener. I've got a god in my head!!” - Rick Riordan

8. “One man carries salvation and damnation from the desert.” - Matthew Sawyer

9. “When I hear that "Possession is the grave of love," I remember that a religion may begin with the resurrection.” - F.H. Bradley

10. “In order to exert influence over people, there were other things that could be used besides love. Knowledge seemed to be an equally strong force, perhaps even stronger. Whoever possessed knowledge not only had power over the changeable passions of people, but also power over their thinking, over their minds, hearts and souls.” - Peter Prange

11. “Whoever possessed knowledge not only had power over the changeable passions of people, but also power over their thinking, over their minds, hearts and souls.” - Peter Prange

12. “Renee's self-possession, her ability to possess other selves, is a measure of the weakness of her husband, his inability to stop his own self from splitting in half.” - Greil Marcus

13. “My dearest girl,' said the vampire finally, examining Lord Maccon with an exhausted but appreciative eye, 'such a banquet. Never been one to favor werewolves myself, but he is very well equipped, now, is he not?'Miss Tarabotti gave him an arch look. 'My goodies,' she warned.Humans,' chuckled the vampire, 'so possessive.” - Gail Carriger

14. “Perhaps a sense of possessing needs to come to come before a sense of genuine sharing.” - Stephen R. Covey

15. “Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months, and some distant coast attracts our avarice: possessions are generally diminished by possession.” - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

16. “Marriage and its entourage of possession and jealousy enslave the spirit.” - Irvin D. Yalom

17. “Whatever. I just won’t have Elena hurt, is all. Or the little red-headed witch.” “Ah, yes, sweet Bonnie. I wouldn’t mind one or two like her. One for Samhain and one for the Solstice.”Damon snorted drowsily. “There aren’t two like her; I don’t care where you look. I won’t have her hurt either.” - L.J. Smith

18. “Much of human history has consisted of unequal conflicts between the haves and the have-nots.” - Jared Diamond

19. “Here Carlyle had come, here George Eliot had progressed through the bookshelves. Roland could see her black silk skirts, her velvet trains, sweeping compressed between the Fathers of the Church, and heard her firm foot ring on metal among the German poets.” - A.S. Byatt

20. “But soon I loved her completely and wished to possess her, own her, absorb her, eat her. I wanted her in my arms and in my bed, I longed she would open her legs to me” - Ian McEwan

21. “He had been violently confused by her real presence in the opposite inaccessible corner. For months he had been possessed by the imagination of her. She had been distant and closed away, a princess in a tower, and his imagination’s work had been all to make her present, all of her, to his mind and senses, the quickness of her and the mystery, the whiteness of her, which was part of her extreme magnetism, and the green look of those piercing or occluded eyes. Her presence had been unimaginable, or more strictly, only to be imagined. Yet here she was, and he was engaged in observing the ways in which she resembled, or differed from, the woman he dreamed, or reached for in sleep, or would fight for.” - A. S. Byatt

22. “IV   The bounded is loathed by its possessor. The same dull round even of a universe would soon become a mill with complicated wheels.V   If the many become the same as the few, when possess'd, More! More! is the cry of a mistaken soul, less than All cannot satisfy Man.VI   If any could desire what he is incapable of possessing, despair must be his eternal lot.VII   The desire of Man being Infinite the possession is Infinite & himself Infinite.” - William Blake

23. “An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.” - Pliny the Younger

24. “Behold, the Spring has come; the earth has received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love!Every seed is awakened and so has all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land.Yet, hear me, people, we have now to deal with another race – small and feeble when our fathers first met them but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough they have a mind to till the soil and the love of possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break but the poor may not. They take their tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule.They claim this mother of ours, the earth, for their own and fence their neighbors away; they deface her with their buildings and their refuse. The nation is like a spring freshet that overruns its banks and destroys all that are in its path.We cannot dwell side by side. Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that away from us. My brothers, shall we submit or shall we say to them: 'First kill me before you take possession of my land” - Sitting Bull

25. “Did the harebell loose her girdleTo the lover bee,Would the bee the harebell hallowMuch as formerly?” - Emily Dickinson

26. “I had cooperated. I could not have refused. I was smitten with her, half in love but also afraid, because in my life (and she seemed to know this) I had not loved anyone without having been wounded. Love was power and possession, love caused pain: you were never more exposed than when you were in love, never more wounded; possession was an enslavement, something stifling.” - Paul Theroux

27. “Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus deal with money. One out of ten verses in the New Testament deals with that subject. Scripture offers about five hundred verses on prayer, fewer than five hundred on faith, and over two thousand on money. The believer's attitude toward money and possessions is determinative.” - John F. MacArthur Jr.

28. “Do I believe in demonic possession?My thinking is more aligned with 'demonization' in the context of Christianity & Spirit-filled believers, whereas I am quite certain an 'unbeliever' can possibly become 'possessed' by a demonic spirit('s).” - R. Alan Woods

29. “I'm mine. Not anyone else's.” - Melissa Marr

30. “Human beings had two basic orientations: HAVING and BEINGHAVING: seeks to acquire, posses things even peopleBEING: focuses on the experience; exchanging, engaging, sharing with other people” - Erich Fromm

31. “To love in the sense of passion-love is the contrary of to live. It is an impoverishment of one's being, an askesis without sequel, an inability to enjoy the present without imagining it as absent, a never-ending flight from possession.” - Denis de Rougemont

32. “After a week passed it had dawned on me what I was and, more importantly, that I needed to do a little more research before climbing into one of you people.” - Michael Siemsen

33. “A man may be in as just possession of truth as of a City, and yet be forced to surrender it - this was the wise saying of Sir Thomas Browne.” - A.S. Byatt

34. “Lust for possession and greed has ravaged the soul of humanity like a great cancer, metastasizing throughout society in the form of a nouveau post-human, consumer hedonism.” - Bryant McGill

35. “There can never be any real freedom on earth as long as people try to exert ownership over the natural resources of the world.” - Bryant McGill