Jostein Gaarder - The Solitaire Mystery (1990)

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A Russian cosmonaut and a Russian brain surgeon were once discussing Christianity. The brain surgeon was a Christian, but the cosmonaut wasn't. 'I have been in outer space many times,' bragged the cosmonaut, 'but I have never seen any angels.' The brain surgeon stared in amazement, but then he said, 'And I have operated on many intelligent brains, but I have never seen a single thought.

Jostein Gaarder
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.

Jostein Gaarder
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.

Jostein Gaarder
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
A sensation is always the same as a piece of news, and a piece of news never lives long.

Jostein Gaarder
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
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
It is different for us mortals. We are the ones who become old and grey. We are the ones who become worn at the seams and disappear. But not our dreams. They can live on in other people even after we have gone.

Jostein Gaarder
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
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
Every single morning I wake with a bang,' he said. 'It's as though the fact that I am alive is injected into me; I am a character in a fairytale, bursting with life.

Jostein Gaarder
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
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...?

Jostein Gaarder