Quotes from Milan Kundera

Not long ago, I caught myself experiencing a most incredible sensation. Leafing through a book on Hitler, I was touched by some of his portraits: they reminded me of my childhood. I grew up during the war; several members of my family perished in Hitler's concentration camps; but what were their deaths compared with the memories of a lost period in my life, a period that would never return?

The more vast the amount of time we've left behind us, the more irresistible is the voice calling us to return to it.

Don't lie!' 'Tell the truth!' are words which we must never say to another person in so far as we consider him our equal.

Las personas deberían recibir su veneno el día de su mayoría de edad. Debería entregárseles en una ceremonia solemne. No para inducirlas al suicidio. Al contrario, para que vivan con más tranquilidad y más seguridad. Para que vivan con la conciencia de que son dueñas de su vida y de su muerte.

How defenceless we are in the face of flattery!

Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out is mute. Only chance can speak to us.

DehÅŸet bir ÅŸoktur, mutlak bir körleÅŸmenin zaman?. DehÅŸette en ufak güzellik yoktur. Bütün görebildiÄŸimiz bizi bekleyen bir olay?n gelip geçici ?????d?r. Öte yandan, hüzün olacaklar? bildiÄŸimizi varsayan bir tav?rd?r." Varolman?n Dayan?lmaz HafifliÄŸi

Internal imperatives are all the more powerful and therefore all the more of an inducement to revolt.

Narodi se likvidiraju tako da im se najprije oduzme sje?anje. Unište im se knjige, obrazovanje, povijest. Netko drugi im napiše druge knjige, da im drugo obrazovanje i izmisli drugu povijest. I narod onda postupno po?ne zaboravljati što je bio i što je sada, a svijet oko njega to zaboravi još mnogo brže.

Quanto mais pesado o fardo, mais próxima da terra está a nossa vida, e mais ela é real e verdadeira. Por outro lado, a ausência total de fardo faz com que o ser humano se torne mais leve do que o ar, com que ele voe, se distancie da terra, do ser terrestre, faz com que ele se torne semi-real, que seus movimentos sejam tão livres quanto insignificantes. Então, o que escolher? O peso ou a leveza?

To ensure that erotic friendship never grew into the aggression of love, he would only meet each of his long-term mistresses only at long intervals. He considered this method flawless and propagated it among his friends: the important thing is to abide by the rules of threes. Either you see a woman three times in quick succession and then never again, or you maintain relations over the years but make sure that the rendezvous are at least three weeks apart.

Does he love me?Does he love anyone more than me?Does he love me more than I love him?Perhap sall the questions we ask of love,to measure,test,probe,and save it,have the additional effect of cutting it short.

Litost, baÅŸka dillere çevrilmesi olanaks?z Çekçe bir sözcüktür. Adamak?ll? aç?lm?? bir akordeon gibi sonsuz bir duyguyu, baÅŸka birçok duygular?n birleÅŸimi olan bir duyguyu anlat?r: hüzün, ac?ma, piÅŸmanl?k ve özlem.

An optimist is someone who thinks that on planet number five the history of mankind will be less bloody. A pessimist is one who thinks otherwise.

Vê um jovem que se afasta da vida dela e se vai, parra sempre inacessível. Hipnotizada, nada pode fazer senão olhar esse pedaço da sua vida que se afasta, não pode senão olhá-lo e sofrer. Experimenta uma sensação inteiramente nova que se chama nostalgia.

Es que hasta la alegría que produce la presencia del hombre a quien se ama se siente mejor a solas. Si la presencia fuera de el continua, sólo estaría presente en su constante transcurrir. Detenerla sólo es posible en los ratos de soledad

What is unbearable in life is not being, but being one's self. To live, there is no happiness there. Living: carrying around the world one's painful self. But being, being is happiness. Being: to transform into a fountain, a stone basin in which the universe descends like a lukewarm rain - Postface by François Ricard, translated from French

buku adalah emblem dari persaudaraan rahasia. Karena ia hanya memunyai satu senjata untuk memerangi dunia kekasaran yang mengelilinginya, yaitu buku-buku... ... yang lebih penting lagi adalah buku-buku novel yang telah dibacanya...

But no carnival can go on for ever.

When we ignore the body, we are more easily victimized by it.

Nel vivere non c'è alcuna felicità. Vivere: portare il proprio io dolente per il mondo. Ma essere, Essere è felicità. Essere: trasformarsi in una fontana, in una vasca di pietra, nella quale l'universo cade come una tiepida pioggia.

Yürek konuÅŸtuÄŸunda, ak?l kar?? koymay? yak???ks?z bulur.

Ä°nsanlar genellikle dertlerinden kurtulmak için geleceÄŸe kaçarlar; zaman?n yoluna düÅŸsel bir çizgi çeker, bu çizginin ötesinde o anki dert ve s?k?nt?lar?n?n sona ereceÄŸini san?rlar.

therein lies the power of culture: it redeems horror by transforming it into existential wisdom. If the spirit of the trial succeeds in annihilating this century's culture, nothing will remain of us but a memory of its atrocities sung by a chorus of children.