Milan Kundera quotes - page 5

The only relationship that can make both partners happy is one in which sentimentality has no place and neither partner makes any claim on the life and freedom of the other. (Milan Kundera)
You can suffer nostalgia in the presence of the beloved if you glimpse a future where the beloved is no more. View quote
Milan Kundera
In the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions. View quote
Milan Kundera
As you live out your desolation, you can be either unhappy or happy. Having that choice is what constitutes your freedom. View quote
Milan Kundera
Suspending moral judgment is not the immorality of the novel; it is its morality. View quote
Milan Kundera
loves are like empires: when the idea they are founded on crumbles, they, too, fade away. View quote
Milan Kundera
Today I know this: when it comes time to take stock, the most painful wound is that of broken friendships; and there is nothing more foolish than to sacrifice a friendship to politics. View quote
Milan Kundera
When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object. In the realm of kitsch, the dictatorship of the heart reigns supreme. View quote
Milan Kundera
The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return. View quote
Milan Kundera
There is no perfection only life. View quote
Milan Kundera
she loved to walk down the street with a book under her arm. It had the same significance for her as an elegant cane for the dandy a century ago. It differentiated her from others. (Milan Kundera)
To laugh is to live profoundly. View quote
Milan Kundera
Living is being happy: seeing, hearing, touching, drinking, eating, urinating, defecating, diving into the water and gazing at the sky, laughing and crying. View quote
Milan Kundera
Perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something (love) from our partner instead of delivering ourselves up to him demand-free and asking for nothing but his company. View quote
Milan Kundera
A man is responsible for his ignorance. View quote
Milan Kundera
Fortunately women have the miraculous ability to change the meaning of their actions after the event. View quote
Milan Kundera
On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth. View quote
Milan Kundera
How could she feel nostalgia when he was right in front of her? How can you suffer from the absence of a person who is present? View quote
Milan Kundera
Einmal ist keinmal, says Tomas to himself. What happens but once, says the German adage, 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. View quote
Milan Kundera
... no one can do a thing about feelings, they exist and there's no way to censor them. We can reproach ourselves for some action, for a remark, but not for a feeling, quite simply because we have no control at all over it. View quote
Milan Kundera
The greater the ambiguity, the greater the pleasure. (Milan Kundera)
He was well aware that of the two of three thousand times he had made love (how many times had he made love in his life?) only two or three were really essential and unforgettable. The rest were mere echoes, imitations, repetitions, or reminiscences. View quote
Milan Kundera
To rebel against being born a woman seemed as foolish to her as to take pride in it. View quote
Milan Kundera
Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test...consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. View quote
Milan Kundera
Once the writer in every individual comes to life (and that time is not far off), we are in for an age of universal deafness and lack of understanding. View quote
Milan Kundera