Quotes from Milan Kundera

The old scholar was watching the noisy young people around him and it suddenly occurred to him that he was the only one in the whole audience who had the privilege of freedom, for he was old. Only when a person reaches old age can he stop caring about the opinions of his fellows, or of the public, or of the future. He is alone with approaching death and death has no ears and does not need to be pleased. In the face of death a man can do and say what pleases his own self.

Qué valor puede tener la vida si el primer ensayo para vivir es ya la vida misma?

Olhava para as paredes sujas do pátio e percebia que não sabia se aquilo era histeria ou amor.

Als een familie er niet in slaagt haar zwarte schaap te vernietigen, dan kleineert ze het met moederlijke toegeeflijkheid.

Einmal ist keinmal ditor Tomas kendi kendine. Sadece bir kere olan ÅŸey diyor Alman özdeyiÅŸi, hiç olmam?? say?l?r. YaÅŸanacak bir tek hayat?m?z varsa eÄŸer, onu hiç yaÅŸamam?? da olabiliriz , farketmez.

Seluruh kisah cintanya dengan orang-orang ternama (dia sama sekali tidak tertarik pada selain mereka) semata-mata hanyalah sebuah trampolin di mana dia menjatuhkan diri dengan seluruh tubuhnya agar terlontar jauh ke ketinggian di mana Tuhan jelmaan sejarah tinggal.

Desde entonces sabía que la belleza es un mundo traicionado.

Zelfkritiek betekent de onderwerping van de aangeklaagde aan de aanklager.

Yapt???m?z iÅŸlere baÅŸkas?n?n gözü deÄŸdiÄŸi an, ister istemez o göze hoÅŸ görünmeye çal???r?z ve yapt???m?z hiçbir ÅŸey dürüstçe olmaz. Bizi seyreden birilerinin olmas? , bizi syeredenleri bir türlü akl?m?zdan ç?karamamak, yalanlar içinde yaÅŸamak demektir.

Kendi iç zavall?l???m?za kar?? kullan?lan en al???lm?? reçete, aÅŸkt?r. Çünkü gerçekten sevilen bir kiÅŸi zavall? olamaz. Çünkü bütün zay?fl?klar?, aÅŸk?n sihirli bak???yla ba???lan?r, böylece kafas?n? suyun üstünde beceriksizce tutan bir kötü yüzücü kusursuz bir baÅŸtan ç?kar?c? olabilir.

Desde entonces sabía que la belleza es un mundo traicionado. Sólo podemos encontrarla cuando sus perseguidores la han dejado olvidada por error en algún sitio.

each time the same object would give rise to a new meaning, though all former meanings would resonate (like an echo, like a parade of echoes) together with the new one. Each new experience would resound, each time enriching the harmony.

Litost, baÅŸka dillere çevrilmesi olanaks?z çekçe bir sözcüktür. Adamak?ll? aç?lm?? bir akordeon gibi sonsuz bir duyguyu, baÅŸka birçok duygular?n bileÅŸimi olan bir duyguyu anlat?r: hüzün, ac?ma, piÅŸmanl?k ve özlem. SözcüÄŸün ilk hecesi, terk edilmiÅŸ bir köpeÄŸin s?zlanmas?n? duyuracak biçimde uzun ve güçlü bir biçimde vurgulan?r.

Si una tumba está cubierta por una lápida, el muerto ya nunca podrá salir.

La luce rossastra del tramonto illumina ogni cosa con il fascino della nostalgia: anche la ghigliottina

Sabina sentía a su alrededor el vacío. Pero ¿qué sucedería si ese vacío fuese precisamente el objetivo de todas sus traiciones?

Hay ideas que son como un atentado.

And he thinks he understands why she never showed him the letters: she wanted to hear the murmur of the tree by herself, without him, because he, Jean-Marc, represented the abolition of all possibilities, he was the reduction (even though it was a happy reduction) of her life to one single possibility.

There is nothing rare about the merging of the bodies of two strangers. Even the Union of souls may occasionally take place. What is a thousand times more rare is the union of the body with its own soul in shared passion.

Una satisfacción que tiene la obligación de cubrir el puesto de otras satisfacciones se convierte rápidamente en una satisfacción demasiado cansada.

Es mejor gritar y acelerar así la propia muerte? ¿O callar y lograr así una muerte más lenta?

She was in the grip of an insuperable longing to fall. She lived in a constant state of vertigo. Pick me up, is the message of a person who keeps falling. Tomas kept picking her up, patiently.

Si la excitación es el mecanismo mediante el cual se divierte nuestro Creador, el amor es, por el contrario, lo que nos pertenece sólo a nosotros y con lo que escapamos al Creador.

If I were a doctor, I would diagnose his condition thus: "The patient is suffering from nostalgic insufficiency.