Quotes from book
The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan KunderaOriginal title Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí (Czech, 1984)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1984 novel by Milan Kundera, about two women, two men, a dog and their lives in the 1968 Prague Spring period of Czechoslovak history. Although written in 1982, the novel was not published until two years later, in a French translation . The original Czech text was published the following year.

Milan Kundera photo

“Looking out over the courtyard at the dirty walls, he realized he had no idea whether it was hysteria or love.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

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

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass! It is the second tear that makes kitsch kitsch.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight

Milan Kundera photo

“what's the matter?" he asked
"nothing"
"what do you want me to do for you?"
"i want you to be old. ten years older. twenty years older"
what she meant was: i want you to be weak. as weak as i am.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part One: Lightness and Weight, p. 4

Milan Kundera photo

“Einmal ist keinmal, says Tomas to himself. What happens but once, says the German adage, might as well not have happened at all. If we have only one life to live, we might as well not have lived at all.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

pg 8
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part One: Lightness and Weight

Milan Kundera photo

“But when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

pg 71
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body

Milan Kundera photo

“I want you to be weak. As weak as I am.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“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.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

pg 27
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part One: Lightness and Weight

Milan Kundera photo

“I have no mission. No one has.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“People derived too much pleasure from seeing their fellow man morally humiliated to spoil that pleasure by hearing out an explanation.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“If a love is to be unforgettable, fortuities must immediately start fluttering down to it like birds to Francis of Assisi's shoulders.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

pg 49
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body

Milan Kundera photo

“Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

pg 233
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight

Milan Kundera photo

“Our lives may be separate, but they run in the same direction, like parallel lines.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

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

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body, p 49

Milan Kundera photo

“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.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera photo

“When you sit face to face with someone who is pleasant, respectful, and polite, you have hard time reminding yourself that nothing he says is true/sincere.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being