Milan Kundera citáty

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„Osoba, ktorá túži opustiť miesto, kde žije, je nešťastná osoba.“

„Vzťah, ktorý urobí oboch partnerov šťastnými, je vzťah, v ktorom sentimentálnosť nemá miesto a žiadny z partnerov si nerobí nároky na život a slobodu toho druhého.“

„Nemôžeš merať vzájomnú náklonnosť dvoch ľudských bytostí počtom slov, ktoré si vymenia.“

„Keď srdce prehovorí, myseľ považuje za neslušné namietať. V kráľovstve gýču vládne diktatúra srdca.“

„Psy sú naším spojením s rajom. Nepoznajú zlo, žiarlivosť ani nespokojnosť. Sedieť so psom na svahu kopca počas nádherného popoludnia znamená vrátiť sa do raja, kde ničnerobenie nebolo nudné - znamenalo pokoj.“

„Človek oddaný svojej viere je pokorný a má pokorne prijímať aj nespravodlivý trest.“

„Človek prechádza prítomnosťou so zaviazanými očami. Smie iba tušiť a hádať, čo vlastne žije. Až neskôr mu odviažu šatku z očí a on, pohliadnuc na minulosť, zistí čo žil a aký to malo zmysel.“

„Muži obdivujú ženy, ktoré hovoria ako knihy, ale berú si ženy, ktoré varia ako z kuchárskej knihy.“

„Boj človeka s mocou je bojom spomienok so zabudnutím.“

„Moc je najslabšia, keď je úplne neprimeraná. Keď hlupák vládne múdremu, slabý silnému, ohavná krásnemu.“

„Žiadne počínanie nie je samo o sebe dobré ani zlé. Až jeho miesto v poriadku ho urobí dobrým či zlým.“

„Byť básnikom, to znamená ísť vždy až na koniec.“

„Muž smie chcieť od ženy čokoľvek, ale ak nechce jednať ako surovec, musí jej umožniť, aby konala v súlade so svojimi najhlbšími sebaklamami.“

„Skepsa nemení svet na ničotu. Skepsa premieňa svet na otázky.“

„Štyridsiatnik nielenže nevyžaduje vernosť, ale cíti sa bezpečnejšie, ak majú jeho priateľky vážne známosti.“

„Ale keď silní boli príliš slabí na to, aby ublížili slabým, slabí museli byť dosť silní, na to aby odišli.“

„Grécke slovo pre „návrat“ je nostos. Algos znamená „utrpenie“. Nostalgia je teda utrpenie spôsobené neutíchajúcou túžbou po návrate.“

„Človek nikdy nemôže vedieť, čo má chcieť, pretože žije len jeden život a nemôže ho nijako porovnávať so svojimi predchádzajúcimi životmi, ani ho zdokonaliť v budúcom živote.“

„Z jedinej metafory môže vzniknúť láska.“

„Oko... bod, kde sa sústreďuje identita človeka.“

„Neexistuje dokonalosť, iba život.“

„Rada sa prechádzala po ulici s knihou pod pažou. Mala pre ňu rovnaký význam ako elegantná palica pre džentlmena pred sto rokmi. Odlišovala ju od ostatných.“

„Chcem, aby si bol slabý. Taký slabý ako ja.“

„Rada sa prechádzala po ulici s knihou v ruke. Odlišovalo ju to od ostatných.“

“He was well aware that of the two of three thousand times he had made love (how many times had he made love in his life?) only two or three were really essential and unforgettable. The rest were mere echoes, imitations, repetitions, or reminiscences.”

“To rebel against being born a woman seemed as foolish to her as to take pride in it.”

“But isn't it true that an author can write only about himself?”

“Once the writer in every individual comes to life (and that time is not far off), we are in for an age of universal deafness and lack of understanding.”

“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 it.”

“I have a strong will to love you for eternity.”

“It does take great maturity to understand that the opinion we are arguing for is merely the hypothesis we favor, necessarily imperfect, probably transitory, which only very limited minds can declare to be a certainty or a truth.”

“Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of great distress.”

“I have no mission. No one has.”

“The emotion of love gives all of us a misleading illusion of knowing the other.”

“The moment love is born: the woman cannot resist the voice calling forth her terrified soul; the man cannot resist the woman whose soul thus responds to his voice.”

“A question with no answer is a barrier that cannot be breached. In other words, it is questions with no answers that set the limits of human possibilities, describe the boundaries of human existence.”

“Perhaps we become aware of our age only at exceptional moments and most of the time we are ageless.”

“Only the most naive of questions are truly serious.”

“In Tereza's eyes, books were the emblems of a secret brotherhood”

“Once her love had been publicized, it would gain weight, become a burden.”

“I cannot hate them because nothing binds me to them; I have nothing in common with them.”

“The moment someone keeps an eye on what we do, we involuntarily make allowances for that eye, and nothing we do is truthful. Having a public, keeping a public in mind, means living in lies…”

“Children, Never look Back!" and this meant that we must never allow the future to be weighed down by memory. for children have no past, and that is the whole secret of the magical innocence of their smiles.”

“Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test, consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect humankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.”

“She was experiencing the same odd happiness and odd sadness as then. The sadness meant: We are at the last station. The happiness meant: We are together. The sadness was form, the happiness content. Happiness filled the space of sadness.”

“The basis of shame is not some personal mistake of ours, but the ignominy, the humiliation we feel that we must be what we are without any choice in the matter, and that this humiliation is seen by everyone.”

“[W]e must never allow the future to collapse under the burden of memory.”

“Solitude: a sweet absence of looks.”

“Metaphors are dangerous. Love begins with a metaphor. Which is to say, love begins at the point when a woman enters her first word into our poetic memory.”

“The longing for Paradise is man's longing not to be man.”

“Ah, ladies and gentlemen, a man lives a sad life when he cannot take anything or anyone seriously.”

“The degree of slowness is directionally proportional to the intensity of memory. The degree of speed is directionally proportional to the intensity of forgetting.”

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