Milan Kundera Quotes

384 quotes in 4625 categories

• To put it another way, every love relationship is based upon unwritten conventions rashly agreed upon by the lovers during the first weeks of their…
• But then he told himself: What does it really mean to be useful? Today's world, just as it is, contains the sum of the utility…
• She was aware that in love even the most passionate idealism will not rid the body's surface of its terrible, basic importance.
• So she stood naked in front of the young man and at this moment stopped playing the game.
• Even in the game there lurks a lack of freedom; even in a game is a trap for the players.
• Fortunately women have the miraculous ability to change the meaning of their actions after the event.
• The girl was grateful to the young man for every bit of flattery; she wanted to linger for a moment in its warmth and so…
• Jealousy isn't a pleasant quality, but if it isn't overdone (and if it's combined with modesty), apart from its inconvenience there's even something touching about…
• A man is responsible for his ignorance.
• Only after a while did it occur to me (in spite of the chilly silence which surrounded me) that my story was not of the…
• It was futile to attack with reason the stout wall of irrational feelings that, as is known, is the stuff of which the female mind…
• There are moments in life when a man retreats defensively, when he must give ground, when he must surrender less important positions in order to…
• Facts mean little compared to attitudes. To contradict rumor or sentiment is as futile as arguing against a believer's faith in the Immaculate Conception. You…
• Tell me, where in life is there a value that would make us consider suicide uncalled for on principle! Love? Or friendship? I guarantee that…
• If I hadn't met you, I'd certainly have fallen in love with him.
• Ah, ladies and gentlemen, a man lives a sad life when he cannot take anything or anyone seriously.
• But what had happened, had happened, and it was no longer possible to right anything.
• Yes, it's a well-known fact about you: you're like death, you take everything.
• The very beginning of Genesis tells us that God created man in order to give him dominion over fish and fowl and all creatures. Of…
• The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything....The novelist teaches…

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