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When I was very young, somebody - maybe it was a squirrel, they talk so much, or a magpie, or maybe a fishie - told me that Pan owned all this forest. Well, not owned owned. Not like he would sell the forest to someone else, or put a wall all around it ... It's not hard to own something. Or everything. You just have to know that it's yours, and then be willing to let it go.

Neil Gaiman#23

ControlMindsetOwnership

About this quote

What does it mean?
True ownership comes from knowing something is yours and being willing to let it go, not from control.
In plain terms
You own something by knowing it's yours and letting it be.
What can you take from it?
Ownership is mindset, not control.

Where it applies

  • property disputes
  • leadership
  • parenting

Putting it to work

  • focus on connection
  • relinquish control
  • define ownership internally

Questions to consider

  • Can you own something by letting it go?
  • What makes ownership real?

Another view

Legal systems often require more than just knowing something is yours.

More from Neil Gaiman

  1. 'The little folk dare anything', said his friend. 'And they talk a lot of nonsense. But they talks an awful lot of sense, as well. You listen to 'em at your pe…

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  2. Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.

    Permalink to quote #24
  3. We are always living in the final days. What have you got? A hundred years or much, much less until the end of your world.

    Permalink to quote #21

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