Quotes About Ownership

The driver sat in his iron seat and he was proud of the straight lines he did it will, proud of the tractor he did not own or love, proud of the power he could not control. And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift through his fingertips.The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.

See. Is it responsibility or blame that bothers you?" "I don't want blame." "Sometimes responsibility is worse. It doesn't carry any pleasant egotism.

And the great owners, who had become through the might of their holdings both more and less than men

And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.

Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold.

We know that--all that. It's not us, it's the bank. A bank isn't like a man. Or an owner with fifty thousand acres, he isn't like a man either. That's the monster.

We were born on it, and we got killed on it, died on it. Even if it's no good, it's still ours. That's what makes it ours--being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it.

And the owners not only did not work the farms any more, many of them had never seen the farms they owned.

If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin,3 were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I,'' and cuts you off forever from the "we.

You bastards never owned nothing. You never planted trees an' seen 'em grow an' felt 'em with your own hands, You never owned a thing, never went out an' touched your own apple trees with your hands. What do you know?

The killing of a man was not so evil as the killing of a boat. For a boat does not have sons, and a boat cannot protect itself, and a wounded boat does not heal. There was sorrow in Kino's rage, but this last thing had tightened him beyond breaking.

But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I,'' and cuts you off forever from the "we.'' The Western States are nervous under the beginning change. Need is the stimulus to concept, concept to action. A half-million people moving over the country; a million more restive, ready to move; ten million more feeling the first nervousness

Oh, I have the money. I've had it a long time.

Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves.

Then, with time, the squatters were no longer squatters, but owners;

And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need.

We measured it and broke it up. We were born on it, and we got killed on it, died on it. Even if it's no good, it's still ours. That's what makes it ours--being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it.

Nobody belongs to us, except in memory." (Grandparenting [1994])

Nadie nos pertenece, salvo en el recuerdo.

A strong leader accepts blame and gives the credit. A weak leader gives blame and accepts the credit.

When you blame others you are trying to excuse yourself. When you make excuses you can't properly evaluate yourself. Without proper self-evaluation, failure is inevitable.

The only way we have of influencing the future is to own the present, however we find it.

You worry less about misplacing a star when the whole sky is yours.

Building your own house is a primal urge, one of those universal genetic drives like the need to provide for your family.