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Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera Quotes

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Famous Milan Kundera Quotes

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent.”

KnowsEvilDogJealousyParadisePetLinksMy DogDiscontentPuppyCanineLightnessDog LoverDog TrainingPoodlesPuppy DogPet AnimalsCat And DogPet DogOld DogDog LovePet LossDog RescueUnbearable Lightness Of BeingGreat DogPoodle DogsPuppies And DogsCute DogGreat PetInspirational DogCat DogUnbearable LightnessTwo DogsCute PuppyDogs And LifeAnimal RescueI Love My DogFunny PuppyLove My DogPuppy LoveRetrieversGood DogPug DogsPuppies And LoveFaithful DogsLost DogBarking DogsLoving DogLabrador DogsGrooming DogsWag The DogDog WalkingDog MemorialAnimal FriendsPet Memorial
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“She had an overwhelming desire to tell him, like the most banal of women. Don't let me go, hold me tight, make me your plaything, your slave, be strong! But they were words she could not say. The only thing she said when he released her from his embrace was, "You don't know how happy I am to be with you." That was the most her reserved nature allowed her to express.”

KnowsSaidDesireStrongKnow HowLet MeEmbraceSlaveOverwhelmingReservedHold MeLet Me GoUnbearable Lightness Of BeingUnbearable LightnessOverwhelming DesireDon't Let Me Go
Author:Milan Kundera
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“If hatred strikes you, if you get accused, thrown to the lions, you can expect one of two reactions from people who know you: some of them will join in the kill, the others will discreetly pretend to know nothing, hear nothing, so you can go right on seeing them and talking to them. That second category, discreet and tactful, those are your friends. 'Friends' in the modern sense of the term. Listen, Jean-Marc, I've known that forever.”

PeopleIfsKnowsTwoTermTalkingKnownForeverSeeingModernHatredStrikesReactionsThrownCategoriesLionsAccusedDiscreet
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“We are born one time only, we can never start a new life equipped with the experience we've gained from the previous one. We leave childhood without knowing what youth is, we marry without knowing what it is to be married, and even when we enter old age, we don't know what it is we're heading for: the old are innocent children innocent of thier old age. In that sense, man's world is the planet of inexperience.”

KnowsMenWorldChildrenAgeBornKnowingChildhoodYouthPlanetsMarriedInnocentOld AgeOne TimeNew LifeBeing MarriedHeadingsInexperienceInnocent Children
Author:Milan Kundera
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“Do you realize that people don't know how to read Kafka simply because they want to decipher him? Instead of letting themselves be carried away by his unequaled imagination, they look for allegories - and come up with nothing but clichés: life is absurd (or it is not absurd), God is beyond reach (or within reach), etc. You can understand nothing about art, particularly modern art, if you do not understand that imagination is a value in itself.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWantLooksArtLife IsValuesRealizingImaginationKnow HowModernCome UpAbsurdEtcAllegoryModern ArtCarried AwayDecipherWithin Reach
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“Man can only be certain about the present moment. But is that quite true either? Can he really know the present? Is he in a position to make any judgment about it? Certainly not. For how can a person with no knowledge of the future understand the meaning of the present? If we do not know what future the present is leading us toward, how can we say whether this present is good or bad, whether it deserves our concurrence, or our suspicion, or our hatred?”

IfsKnowsMenPersonsMomentsCertainPositionJudgmentDeserveHatredPresent MomentSuspicionConcurrence
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“Just imagine living in a world without mirrors. You'd dream about your face and imagine it as an outer reflection of what is inside you. And then, when you reached forty, someone put a mirror before you for the first time in your life. Imagine your fright! You'd see the face of a stranger. And you'd know quite clearly what you are unable to grasp: your face is not you.”

KnowsWorldFirstsDreamFacesImagineReflectionFirst TimeMirrorsStrangerFortyYour FaceFright
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“We don't know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don't understand our name at all, we don't know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”

IfsKnowsMomentsInspirationFunnyNamesUnderstandingHistoryBearsProudHumorousHistoricalBrilliantAncestorFidelityExalted
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“Aesthetic racism is almost always a sign of inexperience. Those who have not made their way far enough into the world of amorous delights judge women only by what can be seen. But those who really know women understand that the eye reveals only a minute fraction of what a woman can offer us. When God bade mankind be fruitful and multiply, Doctor, He was thinking of the ugly as well as of the beautiful. I am convinced I might add, that the aesthetic criterion does not come from God but from the devil. In paradise no distinction was made between ugliness and beauty.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldWayWellsDoeMadeEnoughMightEyeBeautifulMinutesMankindJudgingOffersRacismDevilDoctorsAddDelightUglyConvincedParadiseDistinctionAestheticUglinessCriteriaFractionsInexperienceAmorous
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