“The grass is always greener over the septic tank.”
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
Title of book (1976)
“We can regard the gulag as a septic tank used by totalitarian kitsch to dispose of its refuse.”
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight
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Milan Kundera198
Czech author of Czech and French literature 1929–2023Related quotes
“I got a shotgun and a backhoe and no one looks under a septic tank for a dead body. (Bubba)”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist
Source: Infinity
Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight
Context: Whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch. When I say “totalitarian,” what I mean is that everything that infringes on kitsch must be banished for life: every display of individualism (because a deviation from the collective is a spit in the eye of the smiling brotherhood); every doubt (because anyone who starts doubting details will end by doubting life itself); all irony (because in the realm of kitsch everything must be taken quite seriously); and the mother who abandons her family or the man who prefers men to women, thereby calling into question the holy decree “Be fruitful and multiply.”
“In the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions.”
Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight
Context: In the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions. It follows, then, that the true opponent of totalitarian kitsch is the person who asks questions. A question is like a knife that slices through the stage backdrop and gives us a look at what lies hidden behind it.
Arthur Schopenhauer book Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
E. Payne, trans. (1974) Vol. 1, p. 348
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
Jeffrey Montgomery (1953–2016) American LGBT rights activist and public relations executive
America...You Kill Me
“She regarded men as creatures made for women to dispose of.”
Henry Adams book Democracy: An American Novel
About Madeleine, in Ch. XI
Democracy: An American Novel (1880)
“To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium.”
Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
The Ordeal of Change (1963)
Context: To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium. page 27, Buccaneer Books edition (1990) pages total
Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) Egyptian author, educator, Islamic theorist, poet, and politician
Source: Social Justice in Islam (1953), p. 133