Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith.
Jostein GaarderAlthough 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 GaarderOver the entrance to the temple at Delphi was a famous inscription: KNOW THYSELF! It reminded visitors that man must never believe himself to be more than mortal - and that no man can escape his destiny.
Jostein GaarderWhen we die, as when the scenes have been fixed on to celluloid and the scenery is pulled down and burnt โ we are phantoms in the memories of our descendants. Then we are ghosts, my dear, then we are myths. But still we are together. We are the past together, we are a distant past. Beneath the dome of the mysterious stars, I still hear your voice.
Jostein GaarderI've nothing against eye make-up and lipstick. But the fact is that weโre actually living on a planet in space. For me thatโs an extraordinary thought. Itโs mind-boggling just to think about the existence of space at all. But there are girls who canโt see the universe for eye liner.
Jostein Gaarder