Milan Kundera Being Quotations

On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth.

Yes, if you're looking for infinity, just close your eyes!

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.

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.

In the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions.

There are things that can be accomplished only by violence. Physical love is unthinkable without violence.

Metaphors are dangerous. Love begins with a metaphor

Kitsch excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence

Solitude: a sweet absence of looks.

Why don't you ever use your strength on me?" she said. Because love means renouncing strength," said Franz softly.

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.

She had an overwhelming desire to tell him, like the most banal of women. Don't let me go, hold me tight, make me your plaything, your slave, be strong! But they were words she could not say. The only thing she said when he released her from his embrace was, "You don't know how happy I am to be with you." That was the most her reserved nature allowed her to express.

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 lives to come.