Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jostein Gaarder
Jostein Gaarder

Jostein Gaarder Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPhilosophyIfsPeopleWorldWayHumansKnowsThinkingReasonChildren

Famous Jostein Gaarder Quotes

“Imagine that one day you are out for a walk in the woods. Suddenly you see a small spaceship on the path in front of you. A tiny Martian climbs out the spaceship and stands on the ground looking up at you… What would you think? Never mind, it’s not important. But have you ever given any thought to the fact that you are a Martian yourself? It is obviously unlikely that you will ever stumble upon a creature from another planet. We do not even know that there is life on other planets. But you might stumble upon yourself one day. You might suddenly stop short and see yourself in a completely new light. On just such a walk in the woods. I am an extraordinary being, you think. I am a mysterious creature. You feel as if you are waking from an enchanted slumber. Who am I? you ask. You know that you are stumbling around on a planet in the universe. But what is the universe? If you discover yourself in this manner you will have discovered something as mysterious as the Martian we just mentioned. You will not only have seen a being from outer space. You will feel deep down that you are yourself an extraordinary being.”

LifePhilosophy
Book:Sophie’s World
Create image

“Imagine that you were on the threshold of this fairytale, sometime billions of years ago when everything was created. And you were able to choose whether you wanted to be born to a life on this planet at some point. You wouldn’t know when you were going to be born, nor how long you’d live for, but at any event it wouldn’t be more than a few years. All you’d know was that, if you chose to come into the world at some point, you’d also have to leave it again one day and go away from everything. This might cause you a good deal of grief, as lots of people think that life in the great fairytale is so wonderful that the mere thought of it ending can bring tears to their eyes. Things can be so nice here that it’s terribly painful to think that at some point the days will run out. What would you have chosen, if there had been some higher power that had gave you the choice? Perhaps we can imagine some sort of cosmic fairy in this great, strange fairytale. What you have chosen to live a life on earth at some point, whether short or long, in a hundred thousand or a hundred million years? Or would you have refused to join in the game because you didn’t like the rules? (...) I asked myself the same question maybe times during the past few weeks. Would I have elected to live a life on earth in the firm knowledge that I’d suddenly be torn away from it, and perhaps in the middle of intoxicating happiness? (...) Well, I wasn’t sure what I would have chosen. (...) 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.”

LifePhilosophy
Book:The Orange Girl
Create image

“No me digas que la naturaleza no es un milagro. No me digas que el mundo no es un maravilloso cuento. Quien no lo haya entendido, tal vez no lo haga hasta el momento en que el cuento esté a punto de acabar. Pues es cuando te dan la última oportunidad de quitarte las anteojeras, una última ocasión de frotarte los ojos de asombro, una última ocasión de entregarte a este milagro del que ahora te despides y al que vas a abandonar.”

LoveLife LessonsLife And LivingSelf Consciousness
Book:The Orange Girl
Create image

“You can frequently observe inspiration at work in children who are overtired. They are sometimes so extremely overtired that they seem to be wide awake. Suddenly they start telling a story as if they are finding words they haven't yet learned. They have, though; the words and the ideas have lain 'latent' in their consciousness, but now, when all caution and all censorship have let go, they are surfacing.”

ChildrenInteresting
Book:Sophie’s World
Create image

“Kamu menulis: "Kita sudah mengatakan A, maka kita harus menyebutkan seluruh huruf." Namun masalah itu sekarang sudah sedemikian luar biasa hingga aku menjadi ragu. Maka, kukutipkan puisi singkat dari Jan Erik Vold mengenai hal itu: "Siapa yang mengatakan A Telah mengatakan A" Kamu mengerti yang kumaksud, kan? Kalau kamu telah mengatakan A, maka kamu telah mengatakan A dan harus menjalani segala resiko yang mengikutinya. Tapi, itu tak berarti bahwa kamu juga harus mengatakan B.”

InspirationalPoem
Book:Perpustakaan Ajaib Bibbi Bokken
Create image

“They could for example point out that the use of an expression like "natural modesty" is not always defensible, for if it is "natural" to be modest, it must be something you are born with, something innate. But is it really innate, Sophie--or is it socially induced? To someone who has traveled the world, the answer should be simple: It is not "natural"--or innate--to be afraid to show yourself naked. Modesty--or the lack of it--is first and foremost a matter of social convention.”

PhilosophyModestySocial Convention
Book:Sophie’s World
Create image

“So now you must choose... Are you a child who has not yet become world-weary? Or are you a philosopher who will vow never to become so? To children, the world and everything in it is new, something that gives rise to astonishment. It is not like that for adults. Most adults accept the world as a matter of course. This is precisely where philosophers are a notable exception. A philosopher never gets quite used to the world. To him or her, the world continues to seem a bit unreasonable - bewildering, even enigmatic. Philosophers and small children thus have an important faculty in common. The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder…”

LifeChildrenPhilosophyCuriosity
Book:Sophie’s World
Create image

“Athènes devint à partir de 450 avant Jésus-Christ la capitale culturelle du monde grec. La philosophie aussi prit un nouveau tournant. Les philosophes de la nature étaient avant tout des hommes de science qui s'intéressaient à l'analyse physique du monde et, à ce titre, ils tiennent une place importante dans l'histoire de la science. Mais, à Athènes, l'étude de la nature fut supplantée par celle de l'homme et sa place dans la société. Petit à petit, une démocratie avec des assemblées du peuple et des juges populaires vit le jour. Une condition sine qua non pour l'établissement de la démocratie était que le peuple fût assez éclairé pour pouvoir participer au processus démocratique. Qu'une jeune démocratie exige une certaine éducation du peuple, nous l'avons bien vu de nos jours.”

EducationDemocracyEducational PhilosophyGreeceAthensAthenians
Book:Sophie’s World
Create image

“De kunstenaar kan dus iets overbrengen wat de filosofen niet kunnen uitdrukken?' 'Dat was de opvatting van de romantici. Volgens Kant kan de kunstenaar ongehinderd met zijn vermogens tot inzicht spelen. De Duitse dichter Schiller werkte de gedachten van Kant verder uit. Hij schrijft dat het werk van de kunstenaar een soort spel is, en alleen wanneer mensen spelen, zijn ze vrij, omdat ze dan hun eigen wetten maken. De romantici vonden dat alleen de kunst ons bij het "onuitsprekelijke" kon brengen. Sommigen gingen nog verder en vergeleken de kunstenaar met God.”

FilosofieKunst
Author:Jostein Gaarder
Create image