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It is 1971, and Mirek says: The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.

— Milan Kundera The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979)

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Memory

More quotes by Milan Kundera

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984)

Fervid readiness to judge is the most detestable stupidity, the most pernicious evil.

Testaments Betrayed (1995)

Whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984)

Nothing is more repugnant to me than brotherly feelings grounded in the common baseness people see in one another.

The Joke (1967)

In the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984)

All Milan Kundera quotes →

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Women and elephants never forget an injury.

Saki Reginald (1904)

Man should possess an infinite appetite for life. It should be self-evident to him, all the time, that life is superb, glorious, endlessly rich, infinitely desirable.

Colin Wilson The Philosopher's Stone (1969)

To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.

Thomas Campbell

In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important a function as recollecting.

William James The Principles of Psychology (1890)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Milan Kundera (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.