If you’re looking for Sophie’s World quotes about philosophy, you’ve come to the right place. Here at Inspiring Lizard we collect thought-provoking quotes from interesting people and sources. And in this article we share a list of the 19 most interesting Sophie’s World quotes about philosophy from Jostein Gaarder. Let’s get inspired!
Sophie’s World quotes about philosophy
The faculty of vision can vary from person to person. On the other hand, we can rely on what our reason tells us because that is the same for everyone
— 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
Wisest is she who knows she does not know.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
A true philosopher must never give up.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off, but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, ‘ they yell, ‘we are floating in space!’ But none of the people down there care
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
He could very likely have appealed for leniency. At least he could have saved his life by agreeing to leave Athens. But had he done this he would not have been Socrates. He valued his conscience–and the truth– higher than life.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
People are, generally speaking, either dead certain or totally indifferent (Both types are crawling around deep down in the rabbit’s fur!)
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
When we sense something, it is due to the movement of atoms in space. When I see the moon it is because “moon atoms” penetrate my eye.
— 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
A hydrogen atom in a cell at the end of my nose was once part of an elephant’s trunk. A carbon atom in my cardiac muscle was once in the tail of a dinosaur.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
Health is the natural condition. When sickness occurs, it is a sign that Nature has gone off course because of a physical or mental imbalance. The road to health for everyone is through moderation, harmony, and a ‘sound mind in a sound body’.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
A lot of people experience the world with the same incredulity as when a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.…We know that the world is not all sleight of hand and deception because we are in it, we are part of it. Actually we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat. The only difference beween us and the white rabbit is that the rabbit does not realize it is taking part in a magic trick.
— 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
But if the history of mankind was her own history, in a way she was thousands of years old.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
But 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 Gaarder, Sophie’s World
Socrates himself said, ‘One thing only I know, and this is that I know nothing.’ Remember this statement, because it is an admission that is rare, even among philosophers. Moreover, it can be so dangerous to say in public that it can cost you your life. The most subversive people are those who ask questions. Giving answers is not nearly as threatening. Any one question can be more explosive than a thousand answers.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
Man is the measure of all things’, said the Sophist Protagora (c. 485-410 B.C.). By that he meant that the question of whether a thing is right or wrong, good or bad, must always be considered in relation to a person’s needs.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
We don’t learn anything there [school]. The difference between schoolteachers and philosophers us that school-teachers think they know a lot of stuff that they try to force down our throats. Philosophers try to figure things out together with the pupils
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
It’s not him who’s disturbed. But he likes to disturb others–to shake them out of their rut.
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
If you believed in Christianity or Islam it was called ‘faith’, but if you believed in astrology or friday the thirteenth it was Superstition!
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
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