No act is of itself either good or bad. Only its place in the order of things makes it good or bad.
Milan KunderaFor a novelist, a given historic situation is an anthropologic laboratory in which he explores his basic question: What is human existence?
Milan KunderaThe 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 KunderaLaughter, on the other hand, " Petrarch went on, "is an explosion that tears us away from the world and throws us back into our own cold solitude. Joking is a barrier between man and the world. Joking is the enemy of love and poetry. That's why I tell you yet again, and you want to keep in mind: Boccaccio doesn't understand love. Love can never be laughable. Love has nothing in common with laughter.
Milan Kundera