The novel is a meditation on existence as seen through the medium of imaginary characters.
Milan KunderaShe 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.
Milan KunderaPeople derived too much pleasure from seeing their fellow man morally humiliated to spoil that pleasure by hearing out an explanation.
Milan KunderaFor existential mathematics, which does not exist, would probably propose this equation: the value of coincidence equals the degree of its improbability.
Milan KunderaBut when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave.
Milan KunderaIn Irenaโs head the alcohol plays a double role: it frees her fantasy, encourages her boldness, makes her sensual, and at the same time it dims her memory. She makes love wildly, lasciviously, and at the same time the curtain of oblivion wraps her lewdness in an all-concealing darkness. As if a poet were writing his greatest poem with ink that instantly disappears.
Milan Kundera