334 Quotes by Jostein Gaarder

A philosopher never gets quite used to the world.

Only when we are free to develop our innate abilities can we live as free beings.

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.

I never tried to ingratiate myself with great writers. When a great writer has nothing to say, he does something else, like chopping firewood. A great writer doesn’t try to find something to write about, he only writes when he has to. I was no great writer. I’ve always had the need to unload my thoughts, and so had to live with a kind of mental incontinence, but I’ve never felt forced to write a novel. Nor, for that matter, have I ever chopped firewood.

Rousseau proposed the catchphrase, “We should return to nature.” For nature is good, and man is “by nature” good; it is civilization which ruins him.

At some point, something must have come from nothing.

The most subversive people are those who ask questions. Giving answers is not nearly as threatening.

Tak ada aturan bagi seseorang dalam menulis, demikian juga dalam berpikir.

Sophie could remember situations when her mother or the teachers at school had tried to teach her something that she hadn’t been receptive to. And whenever she had really learned something, it was when she had somehow contributed to it herself.