The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder. Jostein Gaarder More Quotes by Jostein Gaarder More Quotes From Jostein Gaarder I believe there is something of the divine mystery in everything that exists. We can see it sparkle in a sunflower or a poppy. We sense more of the unfathomable mystery in a butterfly that flutters from a twig--or in a goldfish swimming in a bowl. But we are closest to God in our own soul. Only there can we become one with the greatest mystery of life. In truth, at very rare moments we can experience that we ourselves are that divine mystery. Jostein Gaarder swimmingbutterflybelieve We are thrown together with a sprinkling of stardust. Jostein Gaarder stardustthrowntogether Socrates himself said, 'One thing only I know, and this is that I know nothing.' Remember this statement, because it is an admission that is rare, even among philosophers. Moreover, it can be so dangerous to say in public that it can cost you your life. The most subversive people are those who ask questions. Giving answers is not nearly as threatening. Any one question can be more explosive than a thousand answers. Jostein Gaarder costgivingpeople It's not a silly question if you can't answer it. Jostein Gaarder ifsanswerssilly Life is short for those who are truly able to understand that one day the entire world will come to a complete end. Not everyone is capable of that. Not everyone has the ability to comprehend what going away for all eternity really implies. There are too many distractions, hour by hour, minute by minute, to hinder such an understanding. Jostein Gaarder life-is-shortone-dayunderstanding 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. Jostein Gaarder differentdreampeople When we gaze at a star in the Milky Way which is 50,000 light-years away from our sun, we are looking back 50,000 years in time." "The idea is much too big for my little head." "The only way we can look out into space, then, is to look back in time. We can never know what the universe is like now. We only know what it was like then. When we look up at a star that is thousands of light-years away, we are really traveling thousands of years back in the history of space. Jostein Gaarder starslightyears To prove religious faith by human reason is rationalistic claptrap. Jostein Gaarder provereligiousreason A philosopher knows that in reality he knows very little. That is why he constantly strives to achieve true insight. Socrates was one of these rare people. He knew that he knew nothing about life and about the world. And now comes the important part: it troubled him that he knew so little. Jostein Gaarder importantrealitypeople A lot of people experience the world with the same incredulity as when a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.…We know that the world is not all sleight of hand and deception because we are in it, we are part of it. Actually we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat. The only difference beween us and the white rabbit is that the rabbit does not realize it is taking part in a magic trick. Jostein Gaarder differenceswhitehands Philosophy is the opposite of fairy tales Jostein Gaarder fairy-taleoppositesphilosophy going only part of the way is not the same as going the wrong way Jostein Gaarder wrong-wayway 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. Jostein Gaarder philosophicalreadingplato It was all too easy to make things up, it was like skating on thin ice, it was like doing dainty pirouettes on a brittle crust over water thousands of fathoms deep. Jostein Gaarder pirouettesskating-on-thin-icewater A joker is a little fool who is different from everyone else. He's not a club, diamond, heart, or spade. He's not an eight or a nine, a king or a jack. He is an outsider. He is placed in the same pack as the other cards, but he doesn't belong there. Therefore, he can be removed without anybody missing him. Jostein Gaarder missing-himkingsheart Kierkegaard also said that truth is `subjective`. By this he did not mean it doesn't matter what we think or believe. He meant that the really important truths are personal. Only these truths are `true for me`. Jostein Gaarder meanbelievethinking But she’d managed to find her way into our reality, perhaps because she had an important mission here, perhaps because she was here to save us from what people call the monotony of life. Jostein Gaarder importantrealitypeople Our lives are part of a unique adventure... Nevertheless, most of us think the world is 'normal' and are constantly hunting for something abnormal--like angels or Martians. But that is just because we don't realize the world is a mystery. As for myself, I felt completely different. I saw the world as an amazing dream. I was hunting for some kind of explanation of how everything fit together. Jostein Gaarder angeldreamadventure Acting responsibly is not a matter of strengthening our reason but of deepening our feelings for the welfare of others. Jostein Gaarder actingmatterfeelings There is always Joker to see through the delusion. Generation succeeds generation, but there is a fool walking the earth who is never ravaged by time. Jostein Gaarder foolgenerationsearth
