Marie Kondo

It’s been about 10 years since Marie Kondo’s trademark phrase “spark joy” entered the American lexicon, and the Japanese organizing consultant’s impact has only grown. The core of Kondo’s organizing philosophy, known as the KonMari Method, is this: Keep only what sparks joy, and be at peace with letting go of all the rest. Her approach to decluttering spaces has become so popular that it’s led to appearances on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert as well as two Netflix series: Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and Sparking Joy With Marie Kondo. In 2019, a clip of Kondo exclaiming, “I love mess!” became one of Time magazine’s 10 best memes of the year. So what is it about the concept of sparking joy that has captured America’s attention? It’s possible that what makes Kondo’s method so appealing is the emphasis on joy as the primary guiding principle, as opposed to order or control or guilt. Instead of casting any sort of judgment on our consumerist tendencies, Kondo instead asks us to be mindful of our spaces and intentional about what we surround ourselves with. “My criterion for deciding to keep an item is that we should feel a thrill of joy when we touch it,” she has said. As we head into a new season and begin to think about the daunting task of spring cleaning, let these 18 Marie Kondo quotes about organization motivate you to declutter your life, making room for more joy, possibility, and renewal.