--- title: "3 Michael Ende, Momo Quotes" description: "Michael Ende, Momo has 3 quotes on SMS4Smile. Browse their most insightful sayings." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e13/michael-ende-momo-55668_every-day_many-other-inhabitants-of-the-city-were_112058.jpg" --- # Michael Ende, Momo **3** quotes in **24** categories Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Quotes by Michael Ende, Momo > [“Many other inhabitants of the city were similarly afflicted. Every day, more and more people took to saving time, and the more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende-momo/many-other-inhabitants-of-the-city-were-similarly-afflicted-every-day/) [Michael Ende, Momo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ende-momo/) [Every day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-day/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e13/michael-ende-momo-55668_every-day_many-other-inhabitants-of-the-city-were_112058.jpg) > [“Momo would have been delighted, except that most of the newcomers had no idea how to play. All they did was sit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende-momo/momo-would-have-been-delighted-except-that-most-of-the-newcomers-had/) [Michael Ende, Momo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ende-momo/) [Bright ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bright-ideas/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/michael-ende-momo-55668_bright-ideas_momo-would-have-been-delighted-except-th_1505583.jpg) > [“The men in grey were powerless to meet this challenge head-on. Unable to detach the children from Momo by bringing them under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende-momo/the-men-in-grey-were-powerless-to-meet-this-challenge-head-on-unable/) [Michael Ende, Momo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ende-momo/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11e/michael-ende-momo-55668_children_the-men-in-grey-were-powerless-to-meet-t_2117667.jpg) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ende-momo/#itemlist", "name": "Michael Ende, Momo Quotes", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Many other inhabitants of the city were similarly afflicted. Every day, more and more people took to saving time, and the more they did so, the more they were copied by others - even by those who had no real desire to join in but felt obligated to. Radio, television, and newspapers daily advertised and extolled the merits of new, time saving gadgets that would one day leave people free to live the 'right' kind of life. Walls and billboards were plastered with posters depicting scenes of happiness and prosperity. The real picture, however, was very different. Admittedly, timesavers were better dressed than the people who lived near the old amphitheater. They earned more money and had more to spend, but they looked tired, disgruntled and sour, and there was an unfriendly light in their eyes. They'd never heard the phrase, \"Why not go and see Momo?' nor did they have anyone to listen to them in a way that would make them reasonable or conciliatory, let alone happy. Even had they known such a person, they would have been highly unlikely to pay him or her a visit unless the whole affair could be dealt with in five minutes flat, or they would have considered it a waste of time. In their view, even leisure time had to be used to the full, so as to extract the maximum of entertainment and relaxation with the minimum amount of delay. Whatever the occasion, whether solemn or joyous, timesavers could no longer celebrate it properly. Daydreaming they regarded almost as a criminal offense. What they could endure least of all, however, was silence, for when silence fell they became terrified by the realization of what was happening to their lives. And so, whenever silence threatened to descend, they made a noise. It wasn't a happy sound, of course, like the hubbub in a children's playground, but an angry ill tempered din that grew louder every day. It had ceased to matter that people should enjoy their work and take pride in it; on the contrary, enjoyment merely slowed them down. All that mattered was to get through as much work as possible in the shortest possible time, so notices to the effect were prominently displayed in every factory and office building. They read: TIME IS PRECIOUS - DON'T WASTE IT! or: TIME IS MONEY - SAVE IT! Last but not least, the appearance of the city itself changed more and more. Old buildings were pulled down and replaced with modern ones devoid of all the things that were now through superfluous. No architect troubled to design houses that suited the people who were to live in them, because that would have meant building a whole range of different houses. It was far cheaper, and above all, more time saving to make them identical. Huge modern housing developments sprang up on the city's outskirts - endless rows of multi-storied tenements as indistinguishable as peas in a pod. And because all the buildings looked alike, so of course, did the streets. […] People never seemed to notice that, by saving time, they were losing something else. No one cared to admit that life was becoming even poorer, bleaker, and more monotonous. The ones who felt this most keenly were the children, because no one had time for them any more. But time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart. And the more people saved, the less they had.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Ende, Momo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende-momo/many-other-inhabitants-of-the-city-were-similarly-afflicted-every-day/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e13/michael-ende-momo-55668_every-day_many-other-inhabitants-of-the-city-were_112058.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e13/michael-ende-momo-55668_every-day_many-other-inhabitants-of-the-city-were_112058.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e13/michael-ende-momo-55668_every-day_many-other-inhabitants-of-the-city-were_112058.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Many other inhabitants of the city were similarly afflicted. Every day, more and more people took to saving…” — Michael Ende, Momo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Momo would have been delighted, except that most of the newcomers had no idea how to play. All they did was sit around looking bored and sullen and watching Momo and her friends. Sometimes they deliberately broke up the other children's games and spoiled everything. Squabbles and scuffles were frequent, though these never lasted long because Momo's presence had its usual effect on the newcomers, too, so they soon started having bright ideas themselves and joining in with a will. The trouble was, new children turned up nearly every day, some of them from distant parts of the city, and one spoilsport was enough to ruin the game for everyone else. But there was another thing that Momo couldn't quite understand - a thing that hadn't happened until very recently. More and more often these days, children turned up with all kind of toys you couldn't really play with: remote-controlled tanks that trundled to and fro but did little else, or space rockets that whizzed around on strings but got nowhere, or model robots that waddled along with eyes flashing and heads swiveling but that was all. They were highly expensive toys such as Momo's friends had never owned, still less than Momo herself. Most noticeable of all, they were so complete, down to the tiniest detail, that they left nothing at all to the imagination. Their owners would spend hours watching them, mesmerized but bored, as they trundled, whizzed, and waddled along. Finally, when that palled, they would go back to the familiar old games in which a couple of cardboard boxes, a torn tablecloth, a molehill or a handful of pebbles were quite sufficient to conjure up a whole world of make believe.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Ende, Momo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende-momo/momo-would-have-been-delighted-except-that-most-of-the-newcomers-had/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/michael-ende-momo-55668_bright-ideas_momo-would-have-been-delighted-except-th_1505583.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/michael-ende-momo-55668_bright-ideas_momo-would-have-been-delighted-except-th_1505583.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48c/michael-ende-momo-55668_bright-ideas_momo-would-have-been-delighted-except-th_1505583.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Momo would have been delighted, except that most of the newcomers had no idea how to play. All they did was…” — Michael Ende, Momo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The men in grey were powerless to meet this challenge head-on. Unable to detach the children from Momo by bringing them under their direct control, they had to find some roundabout means of achieving the same end, and for this they enlisted the children's elders. Not all grown-ups made suitable accomplices, of course, but plenty did. […] 'Something must be done,' they said. 'More and more kids are being left on their own and neglected. You can't blame us - parents just don't have the time these days - so it's up to the authorities.' Others joined in the chorus. 'We can't have all these youngsters loafing around, ' declared some. 'They obstruct the traffic. Road accidents caused by children are on the increase, and road accidents cost money that could be put to better use.' 'Unsupervised children run wild, declared others.'They become morally depraved and take to crime. The authorities must take steps to round them up. They must build centers where the youngsters can be molded into useful and efficient members of society.' 'Children,' declared still others, 'are the raw material for the future. A world dependent on computers and nuclear energy will need an army of experts and technicians to run it. Far from preparing children from tomorrow's world, we still allow too many of them to squander years of their precious time on childish tomfoolery. It's a blot on our civilization and a crime against future generations.' The timesavers were all in favor of such a policy, naturally, and there were so many of them in the city by this time that they soon convinced the authorities of the need to take prompt action. Before long, big buildings known as 'child depots' sprang up in every neighborhood. Children whose parents were too busy to look after them had to be deposited there and could be collected when convenient. They were strictly forbidden to play in the streets or parks or anywhere else. Any child caught doing so was immediately carted off to the nearest depot, and its parents were heavily fined. None of Momo's friends escaped the new regulation. They were split up according to districts they came from and consigned to various child depots. Once there, they were naturally forbidden to play games of their own devising. All games were selected for them by supervisors and had to have some useful, educational purpose. The children learned these new games but unlearned something else in the process: they forgot how to be happy, how to take pleasure in the little things, and last but not least, how to dream. Weeks passed, and the children began to look like timesavers in miniature. Sullen, bored and resentful, they did as they were told. Even when left to their own devices, they no longer knew what to do with themselves. All they could still do was make a noise, but it was an angry, ill-tempered noise, not the happy hullabaloo of former times. The men in grey made no direct approach to them - there was no need. The net they had woven over the city was so close-meshed as to seem inpenetrable. Not even the brightest and most ingenious children managed to slip through its toils. The amphitheater remained silent and deserted.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Ende, Momo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende-momo/the-men-in-grey-were-powerless-to-meet-this-challenge-head-on-unable/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11e/michael-ende-momo-55668_children_the-men-in-grey-were-powerless-to-meet-t_2117667.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11e/michael-ende-momo-55668_children_the-men-in-grey-were-powerless-to-meet-t_2117667.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11e/michael-ende-momo-55668_children_the-men-in-grey-were-powerless-to-meet-t_2117667.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The men in grey were powerless to meet this challenge head-on. 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