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Moreover, nature's blocks had to be eternal-because nothing can come from nothing.
Jostein Gaarder
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The truth is that I feel totally helpless, or totally inconsolable, to be more honest. I'm not trying to hide it, but it's something you're not to worry about.
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Several million years ago a little seed appeared which split in two, and as time passed, this little seed changed into elephants, and apple trees, raspberries and orangutans. Do you follow me...?
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The sophists were as a rule men who had traveled widely and seen different forms of government. Both conventions and local laws in the city-states could vary widely. This led the Sophists to raise the question of what was natural and what was socially induced. By doing this, they paved the way for social criticism in the city-state of Athens.
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What Plato was really asking was perhaps why a horse was a horse, and not, for example, a cross between a horse and a pig.
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When we look up at the sky, we are trying to find the way to ourselves.
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When we talked about Socrates, we saw how dangerous it could be to appeal to people's reason. With Jesus we see how dangerous it can be to demand unconditional forgiveness. Even in the world of today, we can see how mighty powers can come apart at the seams when confronted with simple demands for peace, love, food for the poor, and amnesty for the enemies of the state.
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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.
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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.
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A lot of people experience the world with the same incredulity as when a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.…We know that the world is not all sleight of hand and deception because we are in it, we are part of it. Actually we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat. The only difference beween us and the white rabbit is that the rabbit does not realize it is taking part in a magic trick.
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Wasn't it extraordinary to be in the world right now, wandering around in a wonderful adventure!
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If an overgrown child draws something on a piece of paper, you can't ask the paper what the drawing is supposed to represent.
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There are five billion people living on this planet. But you fall in love with one particular person, and you won't swap her for any other.
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The stupidest thing she knew was for people to act like they knew all about the things they knew absolutely nothing about.
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You might say that the very best that can happen is to have energetic opponents.
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According to Kierkegaard, rather than searching for the Truth with a capital T, it is more important to find the kind of truths that are meaningful to the individual's life. It is important to find the truth for me.
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Then you have a big problem, because a human is a thinking animal. If you don't think, you're not really a human.
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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.
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People are, generally speaking, either dead certain or totally indifferent.
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The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder...
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Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith.
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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.
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But all fairytales have rules, and perhaps it's their rules that actually distinguish one fairytale from the other. These rules never need to be understood. They only need to be followed. If not, what they promise won't come true.
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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'.
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I sat thinking how terribly sad it was that people are made in such a way that they get used to something as incredible as living. One day we suddenly take the fact that we exist for granted - and then, yes, then we don't think about it anymore until we are about to leave the world again.
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Quote of the day
Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
Dorothy L. Sayers
Jostein Gaarder
Creative Commons
Born:
August 8, 1952
(age 71)
Bio:
Jostein Gaarder is a Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short stories and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world.
Known for:
Sophie's World (1991)
The Solitaire Mystery (1990)
The Christmas Mystery (1992)
Appelsinpiken (2003)
Vita Brevis: A Letter to St Augustine (1996)
Most used words:
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truth
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understanding
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understand
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