Sophie’s World Quotes

“Wisest is she who knows she does not know.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

“It's not a silly question if you can't answer it.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Life is both sad and solemn. We are led into a wonderful world, we meet one another here, greet each other - and wander together for a brief moment. Then we lose each other and disappear as suddenly and unreasonably as we arrived.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“A state that does not educate and train women is like a man who only trains his right arm.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“You 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. It’s 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 Gaarder, Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

“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 Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Yes, we too are stardust.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“The most subversive people are those who ask questions.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“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.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“So now you must choose... Are you a child who has not yet become world-weary? Or are you a philosopher who will vow never to become so? To children, the world and everything in it is new, something that gives rise to astonishment. It is not like that for adults. Most adults accept the world as a matter of course. This is precisely where philosophers are a notable exception. A philosopher never gets quite used to the world. To him or her, the world continues to seem a bit unreasonable - bewildering, even enigmatic. Philosophers and small children thus have an important faculty in common. The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder…”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Wasn’t it extraordinary to be in the world right now, wandering around in a wonderful adventure!”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

“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.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

“The question of whether a thing is right or wrong, good or bad, must always be considered in relation to a persons needs.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

“... the only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder...”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“The stupidest thing she knew was for people to act like they knew all about the things they knew absolutely nothing about.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“ان الحيوانات تولد حيوانات ... اما الانسان فلا تلده انسانا, بل تربيه ليصيح كذلك”
― جوستاين غاردر, عالم صوفي

“Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Acting responsibly is not a matter of strengthening our reason but of deepening our feelings for the welfare of others.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“الأكثر ذكاء هو الذي يعرف أنه لا يعرف”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Dear Hilde, if the human brain was simple enough for us to understand, we would still be so stupid that we couldn't understand it. Love, Dad.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“A Russian astronaut and a Russian brain surgeon were once discussing religion. The brain surgeon was a Christian but the astronaut was not. The astronaut said, 'I've been out in space many times but I've never seen God or angels.' And the brain surgeon said, 'And I've operated on many clever brains but I've never seen a single thought.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Maybe we can comprehend a flower or an insect, but we can never comprehend ourselves. Even less can we expect to comprehend the universe.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Imagine that one day you are out for a walk in the woods. Suddenly you see a small spaceship on the path in front of you. A tiny Martian climbs out the spaceship and stands on the ground looking up at you…
What would you think? Never mind, it’s not important. But have you ever given any thought to the fact that you are a Martian yourself?
It is obviously unlikely that you will ever stumble upon a creature from another planet. We do not even know that there is life on other planets. But you might stumble upon yourself one day. You might suddenly stop short and see yourself in a completely new light. On just such a walk in the woods.
I am an extraordinary being, you think. I am a mysterious creature.
You feel as if you are waking from an enchanted slumber. Who am I? you ask. You know that you are stumbling around on a planet in the universe. But what is the universe?
If you discover yourself in this manner you will have discovered something as mysterious as the Martian we just mentioned. You will not only have seen a being from outer space. You will feel deep down that you are yourself an extraordinary being.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“من المستحيل أن يكون الإنسان سعيداً إذا تصرف على عكس قناعاته”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“And although I have seen nothing but black crows in my life, it doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a white crow. Both for a philosopher and for a scientist it can be important not to reject the possibility of finding a white crow. You might almost say that hunting for 'the white crow' is science's principal task.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“People are, generally speaking, either dead certain or totally indifferent.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“إن الميزة الوحيدة اللازمة لكي يصبح الإنسان فيلسوفاً جيداً هي قدرته على الدهشة”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“إن الحياه محبطه و مأساويه, تتركنا ندخل عالماً رائعاً, نتلاقى, نتتعارف, نقطع معاً جزءا من الطريق, ثم نتوه عن بعضنا البعض, و نختفي بالسرعه ذاتها التي جئنا بها في المره الأولى”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“Socrates, whose mother was a midwife, used to say that his art was like the art of the midwife. She does not herself give birth to the child, but she is there to help during its delivery. Similarly, Socrates saw his task as helping people to 'give birth' to correct insight, since real understanding must come from within. . . . Everybody can grasp philosophical truths if they just use their innate reason.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

“إن القدرة على التمييز بين الخير و الشر تكمن في عقل الإنسان ، لا في المجتمع .”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World