Illuminating Existence: Quotes from "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
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"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"Love is the longing for the metaphysical dimension. It is the desire for the absolute."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"What happens once will never happen again. But what happens twice will surely happen a third time."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object."
"The only relationship that can make both partners happy is one in which sentimentality has no place and neither partner makes any claim on the life and freedom of the other."
"True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power."
"In the realm of kitsch, the dictatorship of the heart reigns supreme."
"Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up."
"Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful."
"We all reject out of hand the idea that the love of our life may be something light or weightless; we presume our love is what must be, that without it our life would no longer be the same; we feel that Beethoven himself, gloomy and awe-inspiring, is playing our song in his "Moonlight Sonata," and that if this ceased to be, if the sound fell silent, we would be forced to give up on life altogether."
"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."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"The only relationship that can make both partners happy is one in which sentimentality has no place and neither partner makes any claim on the life and freedom of the other."
"The fact is that people are good. Give people affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior."
"When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object."
"A feeling of vertigo: every sentiment which is clung to as an ultimate truth is only a feeling."
"To be mistaken is a human attribute."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"The thing about kitsch is that it pretends to demand nothing of its customers except their money — not even their time."
"A single metaphor can give birth to love."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"The future is the realm of freedom."
"What happens once will never happen again. But what happens twice will surely happen a third time."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"When things are fine, we ignore them. That is the paradox of happiness."
"Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"Love is the longing for the metaphysical dimension. It is the desire for the absolute."
"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia."
"It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations."
"Love is a battle; love is a war; love is a growing up."
"Love is not an exchange of two fantasies or the contact of two skins; love is a higher form of communication."
"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"The longing for paradise is man's longing not to be man."
"A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person."
"A single metaphor can give birth to love."
"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"The longing for paradise is man's longing not to be man."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"The heaviest of burdens is simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"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."
"The thing about kitsch is that it pretends to demand nothing of its customers except their money — not even their time."
"The future is the realm of freedom."
"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia."
"The love between a man and a woman acts like a mousetrap to lure a man towards a woman enticing him like a cheese, and trapping him until he is caught."
"For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."
"The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"We all need someone to look at us. We can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under."
"No one's hands are clean in this world. Even if they are holding a clean cloth."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"Happiness is the longing for repetition."
"We can never escape our own weight."
"A single metaphor can give birth to love."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"Love is not an exchange of two fantasies or the contact of two skins; love is a higher form of communication."
"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"The future is the realm of freedom."
"No two people had ever been so good at living in the present, at least according to the definition of "living in the present" that consists of accepting the present as the only reality there is."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"The love between a man and a woman acts like a mousetrap to lure a man towards a woman enticing him like a cheese, and trapping him until he is caught."
"For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."
"No one's hands are clean in this world. Even if they are holding a clean cloth."
"The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"Happiness is the longing for repetition."
"We can never escape our own weight."
"We all need someone to look at us. We can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under."
"A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person."
"For he was aware of the great secret of life: Women don't look for handsome men. Women look for men who have had beautiful women."
"She was the only one who ever questioned his happiness."
"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia."
"The longing for paradise is man's longing not to be man."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"Love is the longing for the metaphysical dimension. It is the desire for the absolute."
"Love begins with a metaphor."
"What the brain itself is, nobody knows. Our reality is an electronic network of neurons and their electromagnetic fields, the whole thing connected, on a quantum level, by waves that somehow transcend time and space. It is a fantastically beautiful universe we inhabit, thanks to our brains."
"Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful."
"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"No two people had ever been so good at living in the present, at least according to the definition of "living in the present" that consists of accepting the present as the only reality there is."
"We all need someone to look at us. We can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"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."
"The love between a man and a woman acts like a mousetrap to lure a man towards a woman enticing him like a cheese, and trapping him until he is caught."
"For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."
"No one's hands are clean in this world. Even if they are holding a clean cloth."
"The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
These quotes from "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" invite us to reflect upon the nature of our choices, the complexities of love, and the significance of embracing life's uncertainties. They remind us of the fleeting nature of existence and the eternal quest for meaning in our human journey.
Please note that these quotes are attributed to Milan Kundera's novel, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," and may vary depending on the translation or edition of the book.
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Quotes from "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.""Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"Love is the longing for the metaphysical dimension. It is the desire for the absolute."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"What happens once will never happen again. But what happens twice will surely happen a third time."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object."
"The only relationship that can make both partners happy is one in which sentimentality has no place and neither partner makes any claim on the life and freedom of the other."
"True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power."
"In the realm of kitsch, the dictatorship of the heart reigns supreme."
"Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up."
"Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful."
"We all reject out of hand the idea that the love of our life may be something light or weightless; we presume our love is what must be, that without it our life would no longer be the same; we feel that Beethoven himself, gloomy and awe-inspiring, is playing our song in his "Moonlight Sonata," and that if this ceased to be, if the sound fell silent, we would be forced to give up on life altogether."
"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."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"The only relationship that can make both partners happy is one in which sentimentality has no place and neither partner makes any claim on the life and freedom of the other."
"The fact is that people are good. Give people affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior."
"When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object."
"A feeling of vertigo: every sentiment which is clung to as an ultimate truth is only a feeling."
"To be mistaken is a human attribute."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"The thing about kitsch is that it pretends to demand nothing of its customers except their money — not even their time."
"A single metaphor can give birth to love."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"The future is the realm of freedom."
"What happens once will never happen again. But what happens twice will surely happen a third time."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"When things are fine, we ignore them. That is the paradox of happiness."
"Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"Love is the longing for the metaphysical dimension. It is the desire for the absolute."
"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia."
"It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations."
"Love is a battle; love is a war; love is a growing up."
"Love is not an exchange of two fantasies or the contact of two skins; love is a higher form of communication."
"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"The longing for paradise is man's longing not to be man."
"A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person."
"A single metaphor can give birth to love."
"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"The longing for paradise is man's longing not to be man."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"The heaviest of burdens is simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"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."
"The thing about kitsch is that it pretends to demand nothing of its customers except their money — not even their time."
"The future is the realm of freedom."
"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia."
"The love between a man and a woman acts like a mousetrap to lure a man towards a woman enticing him like a cheese, and trapping him until he is caught."
"For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."
"The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"We all need someone to look at us. We can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under."
"No one's hands are clean in this world. Even if they are holding a clean cloth."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"Happiness is the longing for repetition."
"We can never escape our own weight."
"A single metaphor can give birth to love."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"Love is not an exchange of two fantasies or the contact of two skins; love is a higher form of communication."
"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"The future is the realm of freedom."
"No two people had ever been so good at living in the present, at least according to the definition of "living in the present" that consists of accepting the present as the only reality there is."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"The love between a man and a woman acts like a mousetrap to lure a man towards a woman enticing him like a cheese, and trapping him until he is caught."
"For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."
"No one's hands are clean in this world. Even if they are holding a clean cloth."
"The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."
"Happiness is the longing for repetition."
"We can never escape our own weight."
"We all need someone to look at us. We can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under."
"A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person."
"For he was aware of the great secret of life: Women don't look for handsome men. Women look for men who have had beautiful women."
"She was the only one who ever questioned his happiness."
"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia."
"The longing for paradise is man's longing not to be man."
"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."
"Love is the longing for the metaphysical dimension. It is the desire for the absolute."
"Love begins with a metaphor."
"What the brain itself is, nobody knows. Our reality is an electronic network of neurons and their electromagnetic fields, the whole thing connected, on a quantum level, by waves that somehow transcend time and space. It is a fantastically beautiful universe we inhabit, thanks to our brains."
"Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful."
"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation, we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."
"The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful."
"No two people had ever been so good at living in the present, at least according to the definition of "living in the present" that consists of accepting the present as the only reality there is."
"We all need someone to look at us. We can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under."
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
"The goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is."
"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us."
"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."
"The love between a man and a woman acts like a mousetrap to lure a man towards a woman enticing him like a cheese, and trapping him until he is caught."
"For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."
"No one's hands are clean in this world. Even if they are holding a clean cloth."
"The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."
These quotes from "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" invite us to reflect upon the nature of our choices, the complexities of love, and the significance of embracing life's uncertainties. They remind us of the fleeting nature of existence and the eternal quest for meaning in our human journey.
Please note that these quotes are attributed to Milan Kundera's novel, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," and may vary depending on the translation or edition of the book.