9 Milan Kundera Quotes on Philosophy

Milan Kundera quotes on philosophy

9. People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It's not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past. They are fighting for access to the laboratories where photographs are retouched and biographies and histories rewritten.

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

13. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?

19. Necessity, weight, and value are three concepts inextricably bound: only necessity is heavy, and only what is heavy has value.

26. It is right to chide man for being blind to such coincidences in his daily life. For he thereby deprives his life of a dimension of beauty.

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

36. What is unique about the 'I' hides itself exactly in what is unimaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual 'I' is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered.

53. As you live out your desolation, you can be either unhappy or happy. Having that choice is what constitutes your freedom.

54. Since the insignificance of all things is our lot, we should not bear it as an afflication but learn to enjoy it.