334 Quotes by Jostein Gaarder

Then you have a big problem, because a human is a thinking animal. If you don’t think, you’re not really a human.

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.

One can say without exaggeration that Descartes was the father of modern philosophy.

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

I said that one of the most infectious things I know is laughter. But sorrow can also be contagious. Fear is different. It isn’t as communicable as laughter or sadness, and a good thing too. Fear is almost entirely a lonely thing.

If we don’t know where we are going, it can be helpful to know where we come from.

The greatest thing of all is love. Time can’t pale that as easily as it fades old memories.

The old Chinese sage Chuang-tzu, for example, said: Once I dreamed I was a butterfly, and now I no longer know whether I am Chuang-tzu, who dreamed I was a butterfly, or whether I am a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang-tzu.

The best way of approaching philosophy is to ask a few philosophical questions: How was the world created? Is.