„No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed.“

„Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence.“

—  Herman Melville American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet 1818 - 1891

Letter to Catherine G. Lansing (5 September 1877), published in The Melville Log : A Documentary Life of Herman Melville, 1819-1891 (1951) by Jay Leyda, Vol. 2, p. 765
Contexto: Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence. They talk of the dignity of work. Bosh. True Work is the necessity of poor humanity's earthly condition. The dignity is in leisure. Besides, 99 hundreths of all the work done in the world is either foolish and unnecessary, or harmful and wicked.

„What we desire is not to possess a woman, but to be the only one to possess her.“

—  Cesare Pavese Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator 1908 - 1950

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

„There is something to be said for losing one’s possessions, after nothing can be done about it.“

—  Pearl S. Buck American writer 1892 - 1973

Fonte: My Several Worlds (1954), p. 218
Contexto: There is something to be said for losing one’s possessions, after nothing can be done about it. I had loved my Nanking home and the little treasures it had contained, the lovely garden I had made, my life with friends and students. Well, that was over. I had nothing at all now except the old clothes I stood in. I should have felt sad, and I was quite shocked to realize that I did not feel sad at all. On the contrary, I had a lively sense of adventure merely at being alive and free, even of possessions. No one expected anything of me. I had no obligations, no duties, no tasks. I was nothing but a refugee, someone totally different from the busy young woman I had been. I did not even care that the manuscript of my novel was lost. Since everything else was gone, why not that?

„Whether naïve on my part or not, it seemed worth taking the time to try to convince others that their lives possessed beauty and meaning worth preserving and honoring.“

—  Aberjhani author 1957

(p. xiv).
Book Sources, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry (2014)

„She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.“

—  Louisa May Alcott, livro Little Women

Fonte: Little Women (1868), Ch. 34 : Friend

„I have wanted women whose very shoes are worth all I have ever possessed.“

—  John Fante, livro Ask the Dust

Fonte: Ask the Dust

„He that is possessed with a prejudice is possessed with a devil, and one of the worst kind of devils, for it shuts out the truth, and often leads to ruinous error.“

—  Tryon Edwards American theologian 1809 - 1894

Fonte: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, p. 438.

„Only a man of integrity can possess the virtue of honesty, since only the faking of one’s consciousness can permit the faking of existence.“

—  Ayn Rand Russian-American novelist and philosopher 1905 - 1982

Fonte: The Journals of Ayn Rand

„Many first possess wealth, and are then possessed by it.“

—  Ludwig Klages German psychologist and philosopher 1872 - 1956

Fonte: Rhythmen und Runen (1944), p. 253

„For God's sake, let's take the word 'possess' and put a brick round its neck and drown it… We can't possess one another. We can only give and hazard all we have.“

—  Dorothy L. Sayers, livro Busman's Honeymoon

Fonte: Busman's Honeymoon

„You can only possess beauty through understanding it.“

—  John Ruskin English writer and art critic 1819 - 1900

„Admiral Smyth says that no family is quite civilized unless it possesses a copy of some encyclopaedia and a telescope.“

—  William Henry Smyth English naval officer and hydrographer 1788 - 1865

Quoted by Maria Mitchell http://pinetreeweb.com/bp-admiral.htm

„I feel quite unable to adopt the opinion that the moment goods pass into the possession of the consumer they cease altogether to have the attributes of capital.“

—  William Stanley Jevons, The Theory of Political Economy

Fonte: The Theory of Political Economy (1871), Chapter VII, Theory of Capital, p. 209.

„More glorious to merit a sceptre than to possess one.“

—  Napoleon I of France French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French 1769 - 1821

Memoirs of Napoleon (1829-1831)

„Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything.“

—  Morihei Ueshiba founder of aikido 1883 - 1969

The Art of Peace (1992)

„Не does not possess wealth that allows it to possess him.“

—  Benjamin Franklin American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, a… 1706 - 1790

„Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.“

—  Robert Frost American poet 1874 - 1963

Fonte: The Poetry of Robert Frost

„If you possess something but you can't give it away, then you don't possess it… it possesses you.“

—  Frank Sinatra American singer and film actor 1915 - 1998

Tom Dreesen on the Late Show with David Letterman March 30th 2009 said that Frank Sinatra had said this after giving his $2000 cuff links to a fan.

„Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud.“

—  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic 1729 - 1781

Anti-Goeze (1778), as quoted in God Is Not Great (2007), by Christopher Hitchens , Ch. 19
Contexto: The true value of a man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of the Truth, but rather the pursuit of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectibility is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand, and say: Father, I will take this one—the pure Truth is for You alone.