1
Those who had fought for what they called the revolution maintained a great pride: the pride of being on the correct side of the front lines. Ten or twelve years later (around the time of our story) the front lines began to melt away, and with them the correct side. No wonder the former supporters of the revolution feel cheated and are quick to seek substitute fronts; thanks to religion they can (in their role as atheists struggling against believers) stand again on the correct side and retain their habitual and precious sense of their own superiority. But to tell the truth, the substitute front was also useful to others, and it will perhaps not be too premature to disclose that Alice was one of them. Just as the directress wanted to be on the correct side, Alice wanted to be on the opposite side. During the revolution they had nationalized her papa's shop, and Alice hated those who had done this to him. But how should she show her hatred? Perhaps by taking a knife and avenging her father? But this sort of thing is not the custom in Bohemia. Alice had a better means for expressing her opposition: she began to believe in God.Milan Kundera
2
Yes, it's a well-known fact about you: you're like death, you take everything.Milan Kundera
3
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 she said, 'You're very good at lying.'' Do I look like a liar?'' You look like you enjoy lying to women, ' said the girl, and into her words there crept unawares a touch of the old anxiety, because she really did believe that her young man enjoyed lying to women.Milan Kundera
4
She was aware that in love even the most passionate idealism will not rid the body's surface of its terrible, basic importance.Milan Kundera
5
So she stood naked in front of the young man and at this moment stopped playing the game.Milan Kundera
6
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 friendship is not a bit less fickle than love and it is impossible to build anything on it. Self-love? I wish it were possible.Milan Kundera
7
Fortunately women have the miraculous ability to change the meaning of their actions after the event.Milan Kundera
8
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 is made.Milan Kundera
9
The man raised his glass, 'To you! ' Can't you think of a wittier tMilan Kundera
10
As she uttered the words of the prayer, she glanced up at him as if he were God Himself. He watched her with growing pleasure. In front of him was kneeling the directress, being humiliated by a subordinate; in front of him a naked revolutionary was being humiliated by prayer; in front of him a praying lady was being humiliated by her nakedness. This threefold image of degradation intoxicated him and something unexpected suddenly happened: his body revoked its passive resistance. Edward was excited! As the directress said, 'And lead us not into temptation, ' he quickly threw off all his clothes. When she said, 'Amen, ' he violently lifted her off the floor and dragged her onto the couch.Milan Kundera
11
A man is responsible for his ignorance.Milan Kundera
12
We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.Milan Kundera
13
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.Milan Kundera