Quotes from Milan Kundera

The invention of printing formerly enabled people to understand one another. In the era of universal graphomania, the writing of books has an opposite meaning: everyone surrounded by his own words as by a wall of mirrors, which allows no voice to filter in from the outside.

Actually, he had never before looked at the scenery. He had always driven toward a goal, to arrange or discuss something, and for him the world's space had become a negative, a waste of time, an obstacle slowing down his activity.

Manejava o volante, sentia-se segura de si mesma e bela, e pensava ainda: seria verdadeiramente o amor que a amarrava a Klima ou tão-só o medo de perdê-lo? E se esse medo era de inicio a forma ansiosa do amor, com o passar do tempo não teria o amor (fatigado e esgotado) fugido aos poucos dessa forma? E não teria ficado, no fim de tudo, apenas esse medo, o medo sem amor? E o que restaria se o próprio medo desaparecesse?

Las transformaciones decisivas para el devenir de las relaciones amorosas no siempre suelen deberse a acontecimientos dramáticos sino, con frecuencia, a circunstancias que a primera vista pasan completamente desapercibidas.

hiçbir aÅŸk suskunluÄŸun üstesinden gelemez.

Para o meu islandês, a amizade é outra coisa: ser-se um guarda diante da porta onde o amigo esconde a sua vida privada; ser-se aquele que nunca abrirá essa porta; que não permitirá que ninguém a abra.

Es posible echarle en cara al hombre el estar ciego en su vida cotidiana con respecto a tales cualidades y dejar así que su vida pierda la dimensión de belleza.

To wielka ulga zrozumie?, ?e jest si? wolnym, ?e nie ma si? ?adnego powo?ania.

I ponovno ga vidim onako kako sam ga vidio na samom po?etku romana. Stoji kraj prozora i gleda preko dvorišta u zid stambene zgrade. To je slika iz koje se rodio. Kao što sam rekao, likovi se ne ra?aju kao živi ljudi iz maj?inog tijela, ve? iz situacije, re?enice, metafora u kojoj je kao u orahovoj ljusci skrivena neka osnovna ljudska mogu?nost, mogu?nost o kojoj autor misli da je još nitko nije otkrio ili da o njoj još nitko ništa bitno nije rekao.

Stalin's son laid down his life for shit. But a death for shit is not a senseless death.

Faptele inseamna prea putin fata de o anumita stare de spirit. Combaterea zvonurilor sau a unei stari de spirit e tot atat de zadarnica si de inutila ca si incercarea de a risipi in ochii unui credincios dogma despre imaculata conceptie.

Between the whores' world and God's world, like a river dividing two empires, stretches an intense smell of urine.

What is unique about the 'I' hides itself exactly in what is unimaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual 'I' is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered.

caci, adeseori din clipa in care anumite fiinte umane formeaza o colectivitate, ele devin, unele pentru altele, niste ceruri straine.

Tomás no se daba cuenta en aquella ocasión de que las metáforas son peligrosas. Con las metáforas no se juega. El amor puede surgir de una sola metáfora.

Hace mucho tiempo, el hombre oía extrañado el sonido de un golpeteo dentro de su pecho y no tenía idea de su origen. El cuerpo era una jaula y dentro de ella había algo que miraba, escuchaba, temía, pensaba y se extrañaba; ese algo, ese resto que quedaba al sustraerle el cuerpo, ese algo era el alma. La cara no es más que una especie de tablero de instrumentos en el que desembocan todos los mecanismos del cuerpo.

Schwere, Notwendigkeit und Wert sind drei eng zusammenhängende Begriffe: nur das Notwendige ist schwer, nur was wiegt, hat Wert.

When you sit face to face with someone who is pleasant, respectful, and polite, you have a hard time reminding yourself that nothing he says is true, that nothing is sincere. Maintaining nonbelief (constantly, systematically, without the slightest vacillation) requires a tremendous effort and the proper training-in other words, frequent police interrogations.

Imagineaza-ti ca ai fi trait intr-o lume unde nu exista oglinzi. Ai fi visat despre chipul tau si ti l-ai fi reprezentat ca pe o rasfrangere exterioara a ceea ce se afla in launtrul tau. Pe urma, cand ai fi avut patruzeci de ani, cineva ti-ar fi pus in fata o oglinda. Imagineaza-ti spaima care te-ar fi curpins vazand in fata ta un chip strain, absolut strain! Atunci ai fi inteles, cu claritate, ceea ce nu esti in stare sa intelegi acum: chipul tau nu esti tu

?ó là cái gì bình th??ng. Và cái gì bình th??ng ??u ??p ??.

He remained annoyed with himself until he realized that not knowing what he wanted was actually quite natural. We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come. Was it better to be with Tereza or to remain alone? There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison.

Necessity knows no magic formulae—they are all left to chance.

O amor era pra ele o desejo de se abandonar às vontades e caprichos do outro. Aquele que se entrega ao outro como um soldado se constitui prisioneiro, deve antes entregar todas as armas. E, vendo-se sem defesa, não pode deixar de se indagar quando virá o golpe. Posso, portanto, dizer que o amor era para Franz a espera contínua do golpe.

Wir alle halten es für undenkbar, dass die Liebe unseres Lebens etwas Leichtes, etwas Gewichtloses sein könnte; wir stellen uns vor, dass unsere Liebe ist, was sie sein muss; dass ohne sie unser Leben nicht unser Leben wäre.