Jostein Gaarder Quotes
-
The stupidest thing she knew was for people to act like they knew all about the things they knew absolutely nothing about.
-
For nature is good, an man is 'by nature' good; it is civilization which ruins him.
-
Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off, but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink. 'Ladies and Gentlemen,' they yell, 'we are floating in space!' But none of the people down there care.
-
Love, your own witch-daughter, Queen of the Mirror and the Highest Protector of Irony.
-
If an overgrown child draws something on a piece of paper, you can't ask the paper what the drawing is supposed to represent.
-
When we sense something, it is due to the movement of atoms in space. When I see the moon it is because "moon atoms" penetrate my eye.
-
Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith.
-
I think about my editor when I write. She's a good friend, too.
-
If just one of those people experiences life as a crazy adventure--and I mean that he, or she, experiences this every single day... Then he or she is a joker in a pack of cards.
-
Going only part of the way is not the same as going the wrong way.
-
Although you may not stumble across a Martian in the garden, you might stumble across yourself. The day that happens, you'll probably also scream a little. And that'll be perfectly all right, because it's not every day you realize you're a living planet dweller on a little island in the universe.
-
A state that does not educate and train women is like a man who only trains his right arm.
-
It is by no means certain that we advance our philosophical quest by reading Plato or Aristotle. It may increase our knowledge of history but not of the world.
-
People are, generally speaking, either dead certain or totally indifferent.
-
The very best that can happen is to have energetic opponents. The more extreme they become, the more powerful the reaction they will have to face.
-
If I’d chosen never to the foot inside the great fairytale, I’d never have known what I’ve lost. Do you see what I’m getting at? Sometimes it’s worse for us human beings to lose something dear to us than never to have had it at all.
-
There exists a world. In terms of probability this borders on the impossible. It would have been far more likely if, by chance, there was nothing at all. Then, at least, no one would have began asking why there was nothing.
-
If we don't know where we are going, it can be helpful to know where we come from.
-
According to Kierkegaard, rather than searching for the Truth with a capital T, it is more important to find the kind of truths that are meaningful to the individual's life. It is important to find `the truth for me`.
-
Life is like a huge lottery in which only the winning tickets are visible.
-
When we talked about Socrates, we saw how dangerous it could be to appeal to people's reason. With Jesus we see how dangerous it can be to demand unconditional forgiveness. Even in the world of today, we can see how mighty powers can come apart at the seams when confronted with simple demands for peace, love, food for the poor, and amnesty for the enemies of the state.
-
The question of whether a thing is right or wrong, good or bad, must always be considered in relation to a persons needs.
-
It is different for us mortals. We are the ones who become old and grey. We are the ones who become worn at the seams and disappear. But not our dreams. They can live on in other people even after we have gone.
-
I have gone around observing your activities from the outside. Because of this I have also been able to see things to which you have been blind... Every morning you have gone to work, but you have never been fully awake. Of course, you have seen the sun and the moon, the stars in the sky, and everything that moves, but you haven't really seen it at all. It is different for the Joker, because he was put into this world with a flaw: He sees too clearly and too much.