Drinking beer in a children's playground is an old Soviet tradition.

We're not given the chance to choose absolute truth. Truth's always two-faced. The only thing we have is the right to reject the lie we find most repugnant.

That's how myths are born. Out of our carelessness, out of our tattered nerves, out of jokes that go wrong and flashy gestures.

That's the hardest thing of all--never to become cynical, never to lose faith, never to become indifferent.

Above all, translators must be native speakers. It’s not because they speak the language better – I understand that sometimes a foreigner can learn a language better than native speakers. It has more to do with intimate knowledge of the society for which the book is being translated.

Czech beer in bottles is the corpse of real beer in a glass coffin.

When there are strange things going on all around, every coincidence should be considered very carefully.