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.

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

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“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.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“Before we are forgotten, we will be turned into kitsch. Kitsch is the stopover between being and oblivion.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“Our dreams prove that to imagine - to dream about things that have not happened - is among mankind's deepest needs.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“The novel is not the author's confession; it is an investigation of human life in the trap the world has become”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“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.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

pg 160
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Four: Soul and Body

“Physical love is unthinkable without violence.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

pg 111
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Three: Words Misunderstood

“There is no perfection only life”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“And therein lies the whole of man's plight. Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“No, vertigo is something other than the fear of falling. It is the voice of emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body, p 56

“When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object. In the realm of kitsch, the dictatorship of the heart reigns supreme.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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

“The river flowed from century to century, and human affairs play themselves out on its banks. Play themselves out to be forgotten the next day, while the river flows on.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out is mute. Only chance can speak to us. We read its message much as gypsies read the images made by coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“Flirting is a promise of sexual intercourse without a guarantee.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman).”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“But just make someone who has fallen in love listen to his stomach rumble, and the unity of body and soul, that lyrical illusion of the age of science, instantly fades away.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“What we have not chosen we cannot consider either our merit or our failure… To rebel against being born a woman seemed as foolish to her as to take pride in it.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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