"How terribly sad it was that people are made in such a way that they get used to something as extraordinary as living."
— Jostein Gaarder (The Solitaire Mystery)

"Wisest is she who knows she does not know."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"You can never know if a person forgives you when you wrong them. Therefore it is existentially important to you. It is a question you are intensely concerned with. Neither can you know whether a person loves you. It’s something you just have to believe or hope. But these things are more important to you than the fact that the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees. You don't think about the law of cause and effect or about modes of perception when you are in the middle of your first kiss."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"It's not a silly question if you can't answer it."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

""Superstitious." What a strange word. If you believed in Christianity or Islam, it was called "faith". But if you believed in astrology or Friday the thirteenth it was superstition! Who had the right to call other peeople's belief superstition?"
— Jostein Gaarder

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

"As long as we are children, we have the ability to experience things around us--but then we grow used to the world. To grow up is to get drunk on sensory experience."
— Jostein Gaarder (The Solitaire Mystery)

"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 (The Solitaire Mystery)

"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 (The Solitaire Mystery)

"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 (Sophie's World)

"Wasn’t it extraordinary to be in the world right now, wandering around in a wonderful adventure!"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"The question of whether a thing is right or wrong, good or bad, must always be considered in relation to a persons needs."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"Socrates, whose mother was a midwife, used to say that his art was like the art of the midwife. She does not herself give birth to the child, but she is there to help during its delivery. Similarly, Socrates saw his task as helping people to 'give birth' to correct insight, since real understanding must come from within. . . . Everybody can grasp philosophical truths if they just use their innate reason."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"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."
— Jostein Gaarder (The Solitaire Mystery)

"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 (The Solitaire Mystery)

"Life is both sad and solemn. We are led into a wonderful world, we meet one another here, greet each other---and wander together for a brief moment. Then we lose each other and disappear as suddenly and unreasonably as we arrived."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"... perhaps the clock hands had become so tired of going in the same direction year after year that they had suddenly begun to go the opposite way instead..."
— Jostein Gaarder (The Christmas Mystery)

"'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.'"
— Jostein Gaarder (The Solitaire Mystery)

"And although I have seen nothing but black crows in my life, it doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a white crow. Both for a philosopher and for a scientist it can be important not to reject the possibility of finding a white crow. You might almost say that hunting for 'the white crow' is science's principal task."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"Acting responsibly is not a matter of strengthening our reason but of deepening our feelings for the welfare of others."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"'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.'"
— Jostein Gaarder (The Solitaire Mystery)

"Wisest is she who knows she does not know."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"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 (Sophie's World)

"As long as we are children, we have the ability to experience things around us - but then we grow used to the world. To grow up is to get drunk on sensual experience."
— Jostein Gaarder (The Solitaire Mystery)

"a sensation is always the same as a piece of news, and a piece of news never lives long."
— Jostein Gaarder (The Solitaire Mystery)

"Since the Renaissance, people have had to get used to living their life on a random planet in the vast galaxy."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"The most subversive people are those who ask questions."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"Maybe we can comprehend a flower or an insect, but we can never comprehend ourselves. Even less can we expect to comprehend the universe."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"A state that does not educate and train women is like a man who only trains his right arm."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"Kita melahirkan dan dilahirkan oleh sebuah jiwa yang tidak kita kenal
Kita 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"
— Jostein Gaarder (Maya)

"إننا في هذا الوجود لا نملك إلا حيزاً محدوداً، بل لا نملك من الزمان فيه إلا ردحاً محدوداً أيضاً..
ولكن أيامنا هذه ما تزال ملكاً لنا، وما يزال أمامنا من الأوقات السعيدة الكثير مما يمكن أن نعيشه معاً " ص١٩"
— Jostein Gaarder (The Orange Girl)

"فالكبار يبدون دائما أكثر صبراً وجلداً وأكثر تحكماً في الزمن من الأطفال الذين يسعهم من الوقت حياة كاملة " ص٢٢"
— Jostein Gaarder (The Orange Girl)

"مالذي يسمح لمجموع النبات بالانبثاق من الأرض الجامدة لمجرد أن يجلو الطقس، وتختفي آخر آثار الثلج؟"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"هل تحكم ولادتنا مظهرنا إلى الأبد؟
أليس من المستغرب أنها لا تعرف من تكون؟ أليس من العدل ألا نستطيع اختيار مظهرنا الخارجي؟ أنه يفرض علينا هكذا.نحن نستطيع أن نختار أصدقائنا لكننا لم نختر أنفسنا . أنها لم تختر أن تكون كائنا بشريا؟ ماهو الكائن الحي؟ " ص١٠"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"وكلما كانت تعي أكثر أنها تحيا، كلما كانت فكرة أنها لن تظل هنا إلى الأبد، تتسرب إلى نفسها.
أي حظ استثنائي أن تكون حية؟"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"إن الحياة والموت يلتصقان ظهراً لظهر.
فمن المستحيل أن نشعر أننا أحياء إذا لم نفكر أيضاً بأننا نموت يوماً، كما أننا لا نستطيع التفكير بموتنا، دون أن نحس، وفي اللحظة نفسها بالمعجزة الغريبة، معجزة كوننا على قيد الحياة
" لم أنتبه إلا الآن، إلى أي مدى هي الحياة جميلة " "
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"رأت أنه لا يمكن العيش دون التساؤل عن الأصول، على الأقل .
من الذي سحب صوفي من حياتها الهادئة ليضعها أمام أحاجي الكون الكبرى؟ "
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"إن الميزة الوحيدة اللازمة لكي يصبح الإنسان فيلسوفاً جيداً هي قدرته على الدهشة"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"فجأة انتبهت إلى أن الناس، سواء في المدرسة أو خارجها يهتمون بأشياء عابرة تماماً. رغم وجود مسائل أخرى أكثر أساسية وصعوبة من مسائل البرنامج المدرسي!"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"كيف خلق الكون؟ هل وراء كل ما يحدث إرادة أم حس؟ هل توجد حياة أخرى بعد الموت؟ ودون أن ننسى هذا كله، كيف يجب أن نعيش؟

إنه لمن الأسهل جدا طرح أسئلة فلسفية من الإجابة عنها."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"Athens is like a sluggish horse, and I am the gadfly trying to sting it into life."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"We can be hindered in our development and our personal growth by political conditions. Outer circumstances can constrain us. Only when we are free to develop our innate abilities can we live as free beings. But we are just as much determined by inner potential and outer opportunities as the Stone Age boy on the Rhine, the lion in Africa, or the apple tree in the garden."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"To prove religious faith by human reason is rationalistic claptrap."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"People are, generally speaking, either dead certain or totally indifferent."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"If an overgrown child draws something on a piece of paper, you can't ask the paper what the drawing is supposed to represent."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"— Quando a gente vai se encontrar outra vez?

Ela olha fixamente para o asfalto antes de erguer os olhos e me fitar. Suas pupilas dançam, inquietas, tenho a impressão de que seus lábios estão trêmulos. Então ela me apresenta um enigma com o qual ainda hei de quebrar muito a cabeça. Pergunta:

— Quanto tempo você consegue esperar?

Que diabo de resposta eu podia dar, Georg? Talvez fosse uma armadilha. Se dissesse "dois ou três dias", eu me mostraria impaciente demais. E se respondesse "a vida inteira" ela poderia pensar que eu não a amava tanto assim ou talvez que não fosse sincero. De modo que era preciso encontrar uma resposta intermediária. Eu disse:

— Agüento esperar até que o meu coração comece a sangrar de aflição.

Ela sorriu, insegura. Então roçou o dedo em meus lábios. E perguntou:

— E quanto tempo demora?

Desesperado sacudi a cabeça e resolvi dizer a verdade.

— Cinco minutos, talvez.

(A Garota das Laranjas)"
— Jostein Gaarder

"ولكن قبل أن يصبح الطفل قادراً على التكلم بشكل صحيح ، وقبل أن يتعلم التفكير بطريقة فلسفسة يكون الكون قد أصبح عادة ."
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"المحزن، أننا نتعود، ونحن نكبر على أشياء كثيرة غير جاذبية الأرض، ونخلص لأن نرى كل شيء طبيعياً"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)

"البالغون يرون أن كل شيء في العالم يتم من تلقاء نفسه، لقد غرقوا نهائياً في الخدر الذهني الهاديء لروتينهم اليومي!"
— Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World)