Quotes by Pasi Jääskeläinen

“Besides, I don’t understand people who read a book for pleasure and then ruminate on the book’s ideas. Paper was invented so we wouldn’t have to keep all those thoughts in our heads.””

“Are writers the torchbearers of humanity? It’s a romantic idea, but it’s complete rubbish. We writers are the crocodiles in the river.””

“You don't read books." She'd meant it as an accusation, as the worst sort of insult. She said it maliciously.””

“Everybody comes to the library naked. That’s why they come here”

“It seems to me,” her father finally said with a sigh, “that Emperor Rat is one of those things that we’re supposed to forget about. He’ll come if he’s going to come, but we shouldn’t start dwelling on it, and we certainly can’t start actively expecting it to happen.””

“You’re a literary person. If you ask me, there are passages in the Bible that a lover of literature has to appreciate, even if they have no interest in religious matters. The Book of Job, for example. A great mystery, and full of wonderful metaphors. None of this purple prose.””

“The existence of the apparition rather made me feel embarrassed, as if I had without knocking entered a room where somebody I thought I knew well (in this case, objective reality) was doing something quite strange and private.””

“...which held that all people have an inborn need to make their ideas and personality known to the world, but as a rule no one is interested in what is going on in anyone else's head.That also explained God. People need an interested listener. They thirst for the undivided attention of someone once they've left childhood, so they invented god, someone to watch them and listen to them all the time.””

“Dear creatures, sometimes we are allowed to experience wondrous things and go places we couldn't reach even in dreams. Only someone who hasn't learned anything from it all can think that they'll be able to hold on to what they've found forever.””

“Her works are said to be too far from reality to be considered real literature. “Why doesn’t she write about life?” the people of Rabbit Back ask.””

“Where would we be if anything at all could turn up in books?””

“Research brings order to the world. It makes things clearer, helps us to understand things. Could there be any more joy than that? Did you ever put together puzzles as a child? The universe is a puzzle with billions of pieces. Putting it together is society's highest shared responsibility, our right and our joy - and not only that, it is what separates us from the whole rest of creation, with a few possible exceptions.””

“All people have an inborn need to make their ideas and personality known to the world, but as a rule no one is interested in what is going on in anyone else’s head.That also explained God. People need an interested listener. They thirst for the undivided attention of someone once they’ve left childhood, so they invented God, someone to watch them and listen to them all the time.””