Superstitious." What a strange word. If you believed in Christianity or Islam, it was called "faith". But if you believed in astrology or Friday the thirteenth it was superstition! Who had the right to call other people's belief superstition?
Jostein GaarderActing responsibly is not a matter of strengthening our reason but of deepening our feelings for the welfare of others.
Jostein GaarderYou can never know if a person forgives you when you wrong them. Therefore it is existentially important to you. It is a question you are intensely concerned with. Neither can you know whether a person loves you. Itโs something you just have to believe or hope. But these things are more important to you than the fact that the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees. You don't think about the law of cause and effect or about modes of perception when you are in the middle of your first kiss.
Jostein GaarderBut understanding will always require some effort. You probably wouldn't admire a friend who was good at everything if it cost her no effort.
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