SOPHIE'S WORLD

(Sofies verden), by Jostein Gaarder (JG), translated from Norwegian into American by Paulette Møller (PM)
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Chapters:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
Book cover

QUOTES
There are no free lunches.
 
The universe and life did not 'come into being': they have always existed.
 
Now we have 'scientific' myths like the Big Bang.
 
There is no 'order of things' except in the human mind.
 
Nature ... has no laws ... apart from those invented by humans.
 
A good example of 'common sense'.
 
There are no (positive) eternal truths, no final philosophical answers.
 
Some are more equal than others.
 
The truth is not 'out there' but 'in here'.
 
Long-distance roses are useless at sprinting.
 
Like so many before and after him, Plato wanted to find a 'rock of ages' to cling to instead of learning to swim in an inescapably fluid world.
 
Humanism? Yet another religion.
 
Scandinavians are very flag-conscious.
 
Plato as the saviour of humanity? Rather the opposite.
 
The truth is a diamond with many facets.
 
The Earth is at the centre of the visible universe.
 
'God' is not a name, any more than 'Father' is a name.
 
I speak, therefore we are.
 
The Law of Lipstick Application ... states that the attraction of a lipstick to a young girl is in inverse proportion to the repulsion of her parents on seeing the result.
 
Without observers, things have no qualities; without observers, there are no things.
 
The conclusion of the chicken does not invalidate the chicken's conclusion.
 
Our perceptions of time and space are mental/cultural constructs, varying from age to age and culture to culture.
 
TTR 'secondary reality', the material world as we perceive it, is - in a sense - part of the human mind, which has no spatial bounds; however, we perceive only an infinitesimal part of the infinite objective universe (TTR 'primary reality').
 
Humanity may well be nearing the end of history - at least, the history of the present world civilisation - but not because science and philosophy have 'completed the picture'.
 
There is no universal moral law.
 
We are all artists and creators.
 
Our grandchildren may well feel ashamed when they read the 'reasons' put forward by today's adults for denying children's rights.
 
You can always tell a real philosopher by the trail of angry and frustrated females he leaves behind him in his pursuit of Ultimate Truth.
 
Marx and Marxism must take part of the blame for the atrocities committed in their name.
 
All theories and laws are man-made; they are invented/created, not discovered.
 
You observe a comely young woman ... making frantic amatory gestures in your direction.
 
Sartre painfully expresses the fear of freedom at the heart of Western culture.
 
Now's the time to learn a little Norwegian.
 
Sophie's story-tune separate from but (gradually) combining with Hilde's story-tune.
 
The Major reveals that he is a True Believer in cosmythology.