Milan Kundera Quotations | Page 5

Memory does not make films, it makes photographs.

The worth of a human being lies in the ability to extend oneself, to go outside oneself, to exist in and for other people.

The worst thing is not that the world is unfree, but that people have unlearned their liberty.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

I understand you, and I shall not attempt to make you change your mind. I am too old to want to improve the world. I have told you what I think, and that is all. I shall remain your friend even if you act contrary to my convictions, and I shall help you even if I disagree with you.

But isn't it true that an author can write only about himself?

Optimism is the opium of the people.

Dreaming is not merely an act of communication; it is also an aesthetic activity, a game of the imagination, a game that is a value in itself.

There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself? That is why life is always like a sketch. No, "sketch" is not quite a word, because a sketch is an outline of something, the groundwork for a picture, whereas the sketch that is our life is a sketch for nothing, an outline with no picture.

I feel a frantic desire to free myself. To start all over again and in another way.