1,075 Quotes by Milan Kundera

Let us suppose that such is the case, that somewhere in the world each of us has a partner who once formed part of our body. Tomas’s other part is the young woman he dreamed about. The trouble is, man does not find the other part of himself. Instead, he is sent a Tereza in a bulrush basket. But what happens if he nevertheless later meets the one who was meant for him, the other part of himself? Whom is he to prefer? The woman from the bulrush basket or the woman from Plato’s myth?

The novelist destroys the house of his life and uses its stones to build the house of his novel.

The greatest adventure of our lives is the absence of adventure.

To hide and feel guilty would be the beginning of defeat.

The goals we pursue are always veiled... The thing that gives us our every move its meaning is always unknown to us.

We wanted to destroy the world. With our messianism we nearly destroyed it. Maybe they with their selfishness will save it.

I’ve always had the sense that my life is run by other people. Except for a few years after Martin died. Those were the toughest years, I was alone with my children, I had to cope by myself. Complete poverty. You won’t believe this, but nowadays when I look back, those are my happiest years.

Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us. We read its message much as gypsies read the images made by coffee grounds at the bottom of a cup.

The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about.