1,075 Quotes by Milan Kundera

The novel is the fruit of a human illusion. The illusion of the power to understand others. But what do we know of one another?

There is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels for someone, for someone, pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echos.

Her nascent love inflamed her sense of beauty”.

When he asked her why she was so silent, she told him she had not been satisfied with their lovemaking. She said he had made love to her like an intellectual.

The only thing that makes me somewhat sceptical regarding human procreation is the unintelligent selection of parents. Some of the most unattractive individuals in the world feel they must multiply at all costs. They are apparently under the illusion that the burden of ugliness becomes lighter if it is shared with descendants.

Einmal ist keinmal. 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.

The novelist’s ambition is not to do something better than his predecessors but to see what they did not see, say what they did not say.

They love their bodies. We neglected ours. They love to travel. We stayed put. They love adventure. We spent all our time at meetings. They love jazz. We were satisfied with pale imitations of folk music. They’re interested in themselves. We wanted to save the world and with our messianic vision nearly destroyed it. Maybe they with their egotism will be the ones to save it.