About 80 percent of the stuff I live with is old. I like letting things take on the character they’re meant to have by really being used. … when you own things that have the imperfections they deserve, that they’ve earned from a well-lived life, it frees you from feeling as though they’re untouchable.
Interpretation
Embracing imperfections in possessions allows for a more meaningful and less stressful relationship with them.
Nate Berkus reflects on the value of owning items that bear the marks of age and use, suggesting that their imperfections are a testament to a well-lived life. By appreciating these flaws, one can develop a deeper connection with their belongings, freeing oneself from the fear of damaging or losing something that is overly pristine and thus untouchable.
In practice
In a speech about minimalism, you might quote this to emphasize the beauty of aged belongings.
I see it every day: People trying to create a home that somebody else tells them they should have. I don't care if it's a magazine or a bossy friend - when somebody says, 'This is what's elegant, this is what's trendy,' if it doesn't represent you, you're not going to be happy.
I believe your home tells a story about who you are and who you aspire to be. We represent ourselves through the things we own. I don't believe in trends. I believe in collecting things that you connect with. We should surround ourselves with things we care about, that have meaning.
Man has throughout the ages been seeking something beyond himself, beyond material welfare - something we call truth or God or reality, a timeless state - something that cannot be disturbed by circumstances, by thought or by human corruption.
It seems to me a worthy goal: try to create a representation of consciousness that's durable and truthful, i.e., that accounts, somewhat, for all the strange, tiny, hard-to-articulate, instantaneous, unwilled things that actually go on in our minds in the course of a given day, or even a given moment.
Despotism has so often been established in the name of liberty that experience should warn us to judge parties by their practices rather than their preachings.
In justifying cruelty to animals we put ourselves also on the animal level. We choose the jungle and must abide by our choice.
If just once you were depressed for no reason, you have been so all your life without knowing.
We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.
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