Quotes from Milan Kundera

Tener un hijo significa que se está absolutamente de acuerdo con el hombre. Si tengo un hijo, es como si dijera: He nacido, he experimentado la vida y he comprobado que es tan buena que merece ser repetida. -¿Y usted no cree que la vida sea buena? -preguntó Bertlef. Jakub procuró hablar con precisión y dijo con cautela: -Lo único que sé es que nunca podría decir con profunda convicción: El hombre es un ser magnífico y quiero repetirlo.

Inútil pretender atacar con razonamientos el firme muro de sentimientos irracionales con los que, al parecer, está modelada el alma de la mujer

He looked down at her and realized how lovely she was and how difficult it would be to tear himself away. But the world beyond the window was even more beautiful. And if he was leaving a beloved woman for its sake, then that world would be even more enhanced by the price of a betrayed love.

Y un día comprobó con sorpresa que hacía el amor con la luz encendida pero que cerraba los ojos. Hacía el amor y recordaba.

se alguém procura o infinito, basta fechar os olhos!

Ata ishin veriu dhe jugu i planetit të saj dhe ajo nuk njihte planet tjetër.

Let us therefore agree that the idea of eternal return im­plies a perspective from which things appear other than as we know them: they appear without the mitigating circumstance of their transitory nature. This mitigating circumstance prevents us from coming to a verdict. For how can we condemn something that is ephemeral, in transit? In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia, even the guillotine.

Se há coisa que sempre me enojou profundamente no homem é realmente ver como a sua crueldade, a sua baixeza e a sua estupidez arranjam maneira de se disfarçar sob a máscara do lirismo.

Az igazi jóság csak olyasvalaki iránt nyivlánulhat meg kristáltisztán és szabadon, aki semmiféle erÅ't nem képvisel. Az emberiség legalapvetÅ'bb, igazi erkölcsi próbaköve, a viszonya azokhoz, akik ki vannak neki szolgáltatva: az állatokhoz. S itt vallott az ember végzetes kudarcot, annyira végzeteset, hogy az összes többi ebbÅ'l fakadt.

Foi no hospital que comecei a classificar os livros em duas categorias: os diurnos e os noturnos. É verdade, há livros para o dia, e livros que só podem ser lidos à noite.

Mistaking the physical appearance of the beloved for someone else's. How often that's happened to him! Always with the same astonishment: does that mean that the difference between her and other women is so minute? How is it possible that he cannot distinguish the form of the being he loves most, the being he considers to be beyond compare?

A cultura desaparece numa multidão de produções, numa avalanche de frases, na demência da quantidade.

Os velhos senhores reconhecem-se pelo hábito que têm de se gabar dos sofrimentos passados e de os transformarem num museu para o qual convidam visitantes (ah, esses tristes museus são tão pouco frequentados!)

Such forced compromises with the spirit of the times, though quite banal, are actually inevitable unless we are ready to ask everyone who doesn't like our century to join in a general strike.

What happens but once, might as well not have happened at all. If we have only one life to live, we might as well not have lived at all.

As as result of your not knowing, this country has lost its freedom, lost it for centuries, perhaps, and you shout that you feel no guilt? How can you stant the sight of what you've done? How is it you aren't horrified? Have you no eyes to see? If you had eyes, you would have to put them out and wander away from Thebes!

El amor es el deseo de encontrar la mitad perdida de nosotros mismos.

O seu impudor ostensivo vinha-lhes justamente da certeza de não disporem de qualquer poder de sedução. Estavam cheias de rancor pela juventude das mulheres e desejavam expor os seus corpos sexualmente utilizáveis para caluniarem e ridicularizarem a nudez feminina.

No nation has been on earth since the beginning of time and the very concept of nationhood is pretty recent. Despite that, most nations look upon their own existence as a self-evident destiny conferred by God, or by Nature, since time immemorial. Nations tend to think of their cultures and political systems, even their frontiers, as the work of Man, but they see their national existence as a transcendent fact, beyond all question

Ihmiskunta on lehmien loinen samalla tavoin kuin lapamato on ihmisen loinen. Ihmiskunta on imeytynyt lehmien utareisiin iilimadon tavoin. Ihminen on lehmän loinen, niin luultavasti määrittelisi ihmisen eläinopissa ei-ihminen.

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 lived to come.

His love for Tereza was beautiful, but it was also tiring: he had constantly had to hide things from her, sham, dissemble, make amends, buck her up, calm her down, give her evidence of his feelings, play the defendant to her jealousy, her suffering, and her dreams, feel guilty, make excuses and apologies. Now what was tiring had disappeared and only the beauty remained.

El carácter único del YO se esconde precisamente en lo que hay de inimaginable en el hombre. Sólo somos capaces de imaginarnos lo que es igual en todas las personas, lo general. El YO individual es aquello que se diferencia de lo general, o sea lo que no puede ser adivinado y calculado de antemano, lo que en el otro es necesario descubrir, develar, conquistar.

A verdadeira bondade do homem só pode se manifestar com toda a pureza e com toda a liberdade em relação àqueles que não representam nenhuma força. O verdadeiro teste moral da humanidade (o mais radical, situado num nível tão profundo que escapa a nosso olhar) são as relações com aqueles que estão à nossa mercê: os animais.