"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)

"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)

"'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)

"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)

"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)

"'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)