Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera
Milan Kunderais a Czech-born writer who went into exile in France in 1975, and became a naturalised French citizen in 1981. He "sees himself as a French writer and insists his work should be studied as French literature and classified as such in book stores"...
NationalityCzechoslovakian
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth1 April 1929
rust movement world
No great movement designed to change the world can bear to be laughed at or belittled. Mockery is a rust that corrodes all it touches.
avalanches culture madness
Culture is perishing in overproduction, in an avalanche of words, in the madness of quantity.
rebellion
Beauty is a rebellion against time.
beautiful crazy believe
Believe me, nothing is more beautiful than to carry out crazy ideas. I'd like my whole life to be one single crazy idea.
memories lying taken
Most people willingly deceive themselves with a doubly false faith; they believe in eternal memory (of men, things, deeds, peoples) and in rectification (of deeds, errors, sins, injustice). Both are sham. The truth lies at the opposite end of the scale: everything will be forgotten and nothing will be rectified. All rectification (both vengeance and forgiveness) will be taken over by oblivion.
moments posthumous
The moment Kafka attracts more attenetion than Joseph K., Kafka's posthumous death begins.
catholic empires prague
Totalitarianism is neither left nor right, and within its empire both will perish. I was never a believer, but after seeing Czech Catholics persecuted during the Stalinist terror, I felt the deepest solidarity with them. What separated us, the belief in God, was secondary to what united us. In Prague, they hanged the Socialists and the priests. Thus a fraternity of the hanged was born.
doe morality ethics
A novel that does not uncover a hitherto unknown segment of existence is immoral. Knowledge is the novel's only morality.
sides uniforms nudity
Nudity is the uniform of the other side... nudity is a shroud.
funny humorous acting
The best actors do not let the wheels show.
strong overwhelming-desire unbearable-lightness-of-being
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.
rehearsal firsts unbearable
And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?
fighting love-is battle
Love is a battle," said Marie-Claude, still smiling. "And I plan to go on fighting. To the end." Love is a battle?" said Franz. "Well, I don't feel at all like fighting." And he left.
strong love-is mirrors
But deep down she said to herself, Franz maybe strong, but his strength is directed outward; when it comes to the people he lives with, the people he's loves, he's weak. Franz's weakness is called goodness. Franz would never give Sabina orders. He would never command her, as Tomas had, to lay the mirror on the floor and walk back and forth on it naked. Not that he lacks sensuality; he simply lacks the strength to give orders. There are things that can be accomplished only by violence. Physical love is unthinkable without violence.