Young is the one that plunges in the future and never looks back.

I was not a hypocrite, with one real face and several false ones. I had several faces because I was young and didn't know who I was or wanted to be.

In Tereza's eyes, books were the emblems of a secret brotherhood

Happiness is the longing for repetition.

The ludicrous element in our feeling does not make them any less authentic.

The sound of laughter is like the vaulted dome of a temple of happiness.

From the top of the staircase she sees the London train, modern and elegant, and she tells herself again: Whether it's good luck or bad to be born onto this earth, the best way to spend a life here is to let yourself be carried along, as I am moving at this moment, by a cheerful, noisy crowd moving forward.