--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Forever, Tom thought. Maybe he’d never go…" description: "\"“Forever, Tom thought. Maybe he’d never go back to the States. It was not so much Europe itself as the evenings he had spent alone, here and in Rome, t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c19/patricia-highsmith-3982_money_forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go_1068106.jpg" --- # Forever, Tom thought. Maybe he’d never go back to the… ![“Forever, Tom thought. Maybe he’d never go back to the States. It was not so much Europe itself as the evenings he had spent alone, here and in Rome, that made him feel that way. Evenings by himself simply looking at maps, or lying around on sofas thumbing through guidebooks. Evenings looking at…” quote by Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c19/patricia-highsmith-3982_money_forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go_1068106.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c19/patricia-highsmith-3982_money_forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go_1068106.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c19/patricia-highsmith-3982_money_forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go_1068106.jpg) > ““Forever, Tom thought. Maybe he’d never go back to the States. It was not so much Europe itself as the evenings he had spent alone, here and in Rome, that made him feel that way. Evenings by himself simply looking at maps, or lying around on sofas thumbing through guidebooks. Evenings looking at his clothes - his clothes and Dickie’s - and feeling Dickie’s rings between his palms, and running his fingers over the antelope suitcase he had bought at Gucci’s. He had polished the suitcase with a special English leather dressing, not that it needed polishing because he took such good care of it, but for its protection. He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with. They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality, and the love that cherished the quality. Possessions reminded him that he existed, and made him enjoy his existence. It was as simple as that. And wasn’t that worth something? He existed. Not many people in the world knew how to, even if they had the money. It really didn’t take money, masses of money, it took a certain security. He had been on the road to it, even with Marc Priminger. He had appreciated Marc’s possessions, and they were what had attracted him to the house, but they were not his own, and it had been impossible to make a beginning at acquiring anything of his own on forty dollars a week. It would have taken him the best years of his life, even if he had economised stringently, to buy the things he wanted. Dickie’s money had given him only an added momentum on the road he had been travelling. The money gave him the leisure to see Greece, to collect Etruscan pottery if he wanted (he had recently read an interesting book on that subject by an American living in Rome), to join art societies if he cared to and to donate to their work. It gave him the leisure, for instance, to read his Malraux tonight as late as he pleased, because he did not have to go to a job in the morning. He had just bought a two-volume edition of Malraux’s Psychologic de I’art which he was now reading, with great pleasure, in French with the aid of a dictionary.”” [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator finds meaning and self‑respect through a few cherished possessions, valuing quality over quantity and seeing them as evidence of his existence. **In simple terms:** Quality belongings give him self‑respect and a sense of being alive. Key Takeaway Cherish a few meaningful items. Themes identity materialism self‑respect existence quality Mood reflective nostalgic contemplative Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - travel - personal reflection - budget living - collecting art - reading Key Concepts existentialism consumer culture psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you choose which items truly reflect you? - Can minimalism replace the need for cherished objects? A Different Perspective Possessions can become symbols of status rather than true self‑worth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Possessions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possessions/) [Possessions Attracted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possessions-attracted-2645626/) [Possessions Reminded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possessions-reminded-2645627/) [Spent Rome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spent-rome-2645625/) [Tom Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tom-thought-1036155/) ## Related quotes > [He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with. They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/he-loved-possessions-not-masses-of-them-but-a-select-few-that-he-did-2/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with.They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/he-loved-possessions-not-masses-of-them-but-a-select-few-that-he-did/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [“It's the way God runs the world." Tom thought about this for a moment. "He's all right, Doug," said Tom. "He tries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/it-s-the-way-god-runs-the-world-tom-thought-about-this-for-a-moment/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“Ralph spoke to the boat in the same way Whittnish referred to the light – living creatures, close to their hearts. The things a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-l-stedman-the-light-between-oceans/ralph-spoke-to-the-boat-in-the-same-way-whittnish-referred-to-the/) [M L Stedman - The Light Between Oceans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-l-stedman-the-light-between-oceans/) > [Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/possession-diminishes-perception-of-value-immediately/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [Lets be honest, whenever you get a new phone; you treat it like a new born baby.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/lets-be-honest-whenever-you-get-a-new-phone-you-treat-it-like-a-new/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One day, when I own a house, I'll keep a library full of books. Books are different from other possessions-they're more like friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blake-mycoskie/one-day-when-i-own-a-house-i-ll-keep-a-library-full-of-books-books/) [Blake Mycoskie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blake-mycoskie/) > [“If he so much as mentioned the absence of any trunks or material possessions that constituted things she could attend to, by God, she'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christi-caldwell/if-he-so-much-as-mentioned-the-absence-of-any-trunks-or-material/) [Christi Caldwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christi-caldwell/) > [“Thankfulness acknowledges that we can’t own anything, but we can experience everything. And just knowing that makes me thankful.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/thankfulness-acknowledges-that-we-can-t-own-anything-but-we-can/) [Craig D. 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But I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-alice-monroe/oh-if-only-i-were-young-again-i-would-travel-there-s-so-much-of-the/) [Mary Alice Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-alice-monroe/) > [The good Bishop of Assisi expressed a sort of horror at the hard life which the Little Brothers lived at the Portiuncula, without comforts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-good-bishop-of-assisi-expressed-a-sort-of-horror-at-the-hard-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The more we try to ground our identities in external possessions or triumphs, the more we plaster our names on everything we can accumulate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kavanaugh/the-more-we-try-to-ground-our-identities-in-external-possessions-or/) [John F. Kavanaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kavanaugh/) > [In sports teams, apart from talk of sporting prowess and the imparting of inspirational thought, an extraordinary amount of time is spent discussing, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harsha-bhogle/in-sports-teams-apart-from-talk-of-sporting-prowess-and-the-imparting/) [Harsha Bhogle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harsha-bhogle/) > [Possessions can possess you. Even a lawn can possess you. It makes you buy a garden hose. Which makes you water. Which cuts into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-bean/possessions-can-possess-you-even-a-lawn-can-possess-you-it-makes-you/) [Orson Bean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-bean/) ## More by Patricia Highsmith > [“Thinking no more about it, he stepped off into that cool space, that fast descent to her, with nothing in his mind but a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/thinking-no-more-about-it-he-stepped-off-into-that-cool-space-that/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [I didn't hang around films. I don't know if I'd ever seen Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/i-didn-t-hang-around-films-i-don-t-know-if-i-d-ever-seen-hitchcock-s/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [“I feel I stand in a desert with my hands outstretched, and you are raining down upon me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/i-feel-i-stand-in-a-desert-with-my-hands-outstretched-and-you-are/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [One situation – maybe one alone – could drive me to murder: family life, togetherness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/one-situation-maybe-one-alone-could-drive-me-to-murder-family-life/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [“He felt he was about to experience again some ancient, delicious childhood moment that the steam calliope's sour hollowness, the stitching hurdy-gurdy accompaniment, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/he-felt-he-was-about-to-experience-again-some-ancient-delicious/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [“It was a kind of arrogance, perhaps, to believe so in one's destiny. 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It was just after 7 P.M., and the month was October.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/dusk-was-falling-quickly-it-was-just-after-7-p-m-and-the-month-was/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [“What chance combination of shadow and sound and his own thoughts had created it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/what-chance-combination-of-shadow-and-sound-and-his-own-thoughts-had/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [“Happiness was like a green vine spreading through her, stretching fine tendrils, bearing flowers through her flesh. She had a vision of a pale-white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/happiness-was-like-a-green-vine-spreading-through-her-stretching-fine/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [“That's exactly where you're wrong! Any kind of person can murder. Purely circumstances and not a thing to do with temperament! People get so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/that-s-exactly-where-you-re-wrong-any-kind-of-person-can-murder/) [Patricia Highsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/) > [What was it to love someone, what was love exactly, and why did it end or not end? 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It is open markets, it is capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/don-t-let-s-lose-sight-of-what-creates-wealth-it-is-open-markets-it/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Money is the kind of instrument which is very speedily produced.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatoly-chubais/money-is-the-kind-of-instrument-which-is-very-speedily-produced/) [Anatoly Chubais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatoly-chubais/) > [I would borrow money all day long, if the cost of borrowing is less than the expected return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-schneider/i-would-borrow-money-all-day-long-if-the-cost-of-borrowing-is-less/) [Brad Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-schneider/) > [If you restore a car, and you're making money, then you're doing it wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-leno/if-you-restore-a-car-and-you-re-making-money-then-you-re-doing-it/) [Jay Leno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-leno/) > [Maybe you can,t buy a big house.. 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Evenings looking at his clothes - his clothes and Dickie’s - and feeling Dickie’s rings between his palms, and running his fingers over the antelope suitcase he had bought at Gucci’s. He had polished the suitcase with a special English leather dressing, not that it needed polishing because he took such good care of it, but for its protection. He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with. They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality, and the love that cherished the quality. Possessions reminded him that he existed, and made him enjoy his existence. It was as simple as that. And wasn’t that worth something? He existed. Not many people in the world knew how to, even if they had the money. It really didn’t take money, masses of money, it took a certain security. He had been on the road to it, even with Marc Priminger. He had appreciated Marc’s possessions, and they were what had attracted him to the house, but they were not his own, and it had been impossible to make a beginning at acquiring anything of his own on forty dollars a week. It would have taken him the best years of his life, even if he had economised stringently, to buy the things he wanted. Dickie’s money had given him only an added momentum on the road he had been travelling. The money gave him the leisure to see Greece, to collect Etruscan pottery if he wanted (he had recently read an interesting book on that subject by an American living in Rome), to join art societies if he cared to and to donate to their work. It gave him the leisure, for instance, to read his Malraux tonight as late as he pleased, because he did not have to go to a job in the morning. He had just bought a two-volume edition of Malraux’s Psychologic de I’art which he was now reading, with great pleasure, in French with the aid of a dictionary.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Patricia Highsmith" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go-back-to-the-states-it-was-not/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Money" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-highsmith/forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go-back-to-the-states-it-was-not/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c19/patricia-highsmith-3982_money_forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go_1068106.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c19/patricia-highsmith-3982_money_forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go_1068106.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c19/patricia-highsmith-3982_money_forever-tom-thought-maybe-he-d-never-go_1068106.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Forever, Tom thought. Maybe he’d never go back to the States. It was not so much Europe itself as the…” — Patricia Highsmith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Patricia Highsmith", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-highsmith/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Forever, Tom thought. 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