Jostein Gaarder Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. «el que nunca vive el momento, no vive nunca. ¿Qué haces tú?». The Orange Girl

2. It's not him who's disturbed. But he likes to disturb others--to shake them out of their rut. Sophie's World

3. 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. The Orange Girl

4. No sólo tenemos un lugar en la vida. También tenemos un tiempo medido. The Orange Girl

5. A hydrogen atom in a cell at the end of my nose was once part of an elephant's trunk. A carbon atom in my cardiac muscle was once in the tail of a dinosaur. Sophie's World

6. A true philosopher must never give up. Sophie's World

7. But understanding will always require some effort. You probably wouldn't admire a friend who was good at everything if it cost her no effort. Sophie's World

8. He could very likely have appealed for leniency. At least he could have saved his life by agreeing to leave Athens. But had he done this he would not have been Socrates. He valued his conscience--and the truth-- higher than life. Sophie's World

9. Health is the natural condition. When sickness occurs, it is a sign that Nature has gone off course because of a physical or mental imbalance. The road to health for everyone is through moderation, harmony, and a 'sound mind in a sound body'. Sophie's World

10. 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. The Solitaire Mystery

11. 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. Sophie's World

12. 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. The Orange Girl

13. It's not him who's disturbed. But he likes to disturb others--to shake them out of their rut. Sophie's World

14. Kita melahirkan dan dilahirkan oleh sebuah jiwa yang tidak kita kenalKita adalah teka-teki yang tak teterka oleh siapa pun. Kita adalah dongeng yang terperangkap dalam khayalannya sendiri.Kita adalah apa yang terus berjalan tanpa pernah tiba pada pengertian Maya

15. Kitalah planet yang hidup itu, Sophie! Kitalah kapal besar yang berlayar mengelilingi matahari yang membakar alam raya. Tapi kita masing-masing adalah juga sebuah kapal bermuatan gen-gen yang melayari kehidupan. Jika kita sudah membawa muatan ini dengan selamat ke pelabuhan berikut --berarti hidup kita tidak sia-sia.

16. Man is the measure of all things', said the Sophist Protagora (c. 485-410 B.C.). By that he meant that the question of whether a thing is right or wrong, good or bad, must always be considered in relation to a person's needs. Sophie's World

17. 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 Sophie's World

18. 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. The Solitaire Mystery

19. People are, generally speaking, either dead certain or totally indifferent (Both types are crawling around deep down in the rabbit's fur!) Sophie's World

20. She sent me a sunny smile, and what a smile, George; it was a smile that could have melted the whole world, because if the whole world had seen it, it would have had the power to stop all wars and hatred on the face of the planet, or at lease there would have been some long ceasefires. The Orange Girl

21. 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… Sophie's World

22. 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. Sophie's World

23. Time doesn't pass, Hans Thomas, and time doesn't tick. We are the ones who pass, and our watches tick. Time eats its way through history as silently and relentlessly as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. It topples great civilizations, gnaws at ancient monuments, and wolfs down generation after generation. That's why we speak of the 'ravages of time'. Time chews and chomps–and we are the ones between its jaws. The Solitaire Mystery

24. When we die, as when the scenes have been fixed on to celluloid and the scenery is pulled down and burnt — we are phantoms in the memories of our descendants. Then we are ghosts, my dear, then we are myths. But still we are together. We are the past together, we are a distant past. Beneath the dome of the mysterious stars, I still hear your voice. Maya

25. 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. Sophie's World

26. When you realize there is something you don't understand, then you're generally on the right path to understanding all kinds of things. The Solitaire Mystery

27. Wir werden alt und grau. Wir werden eines Tages verschlissen sein und aus der Welt verschwinden. Mit unseren Träumen ist das anders. Sie können in anderen Menschen weiterleben, wenn es uns schon längst, längst nicht mehr gibt. The Solitaire Mystery

28. Wisest is she who knows she does not know. Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

29. ويبدوا أنه مع العمر لا يطل هناك ما يدهشان . لكننا بذلك نفقد شيئا أساسيا هو ما يحاول الفلاسفة إيقاظه فيه داخلنا. ذاك ‘ن صوتا في عمق أعماقنا يقول لنا ان الحياة لغز كبير. وهذا ما جربناه قبل أن يعلموننا اياه بكثير Sophie's World