The truth is that I feel like a ghost already, and I have to catch my breath each time I think about it. I begin to understand why ghosts go in for so much sighing and hooting. It's not to scare their descendants. It's just that they find it so hard to breathe in a time other than their own. We don't only have a place in existence. We also have an allotted span. That's the way things are, and all I can do is extrapolate from what's around me now. .Jostein Gaarder
About This Quote
Most people go through life and do what they must to survive and live a decent life. However, we all know that we can and will die someday. There is no escaping it. For those who have been lucky enough to make it to old age, the thought of dying brings up the same fear as an adult child discovering their parent has died before them.
When we discover our own mortality, our world changes. It doesn’t always change for the better but it does change. Our minds think about how we will be remembered by those around us and friends who come after us.
We begin to think about our funeral and what our final words will be. Then comes the thought of whether or not we have made the right choices in life and how much better we could have been if those choices were better. We aren't only thinking about those things now but thoughts of regret are always present as well as memories of how we have lived our lives so far.
Source: The Orange Girl
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More Quotes By Jostein Gaarder
- He promised her that he would give her everything, everything she wanted, as men in love always do. And she trusted him despite herself, as women in love always do.
- I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't do anything but think about him. At night I dream of him, all day I wait to see him, and when I do see him my heart turns over and I think I will faint with desire.
- I would know you anywhere for my true love. Whoever I was and whoever you were, I would know you at once for my true love.
- I have given my word that only death will take me from you.
- I have seen sights and travelled in countries you cannot imagine. I have been afraid and I have been in danger, and I have never for one moment thought that I would throw myself at at a man for his help.