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 GaarderSince the Renaissance, people have had to get used to living their life on a random planet in the vast galaxy.
Jostein GaarderIf an overgrown child draws something on a piece of paper, you can't ask the paper what the drawing is supposed to represent.
Jostein GaarderIt takes billions of years to create a human being. And it takes only a few seconds to die.
Jostein GaarderThe 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.
Jostein Gaarder