Quotes from The Festival of Insignificance

“أدركنا منذ زمن طويل أنه لم يعد بالإمكان قلب هذا العالم، ولا تغييره إلى الأفضل، ولا إيقاف جريانه البائس إلى الأمام. لم يكن ثمة سوى مقاومة وحيدة ممكنة : ألّا نأخذه على محمل الجد”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“الكائن الانسانى ليس إلا شعـورًا بالوحـدة.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“فى قاموسى الكافر، ثمة كلمة واحدة مقدسـة: الصداقة”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“We’ve known for a long time that it was no longer possible to overturn this world, nor reshape it, nor head off its dangerous headlong rush. There’s been only one possible resistance: to not take it seriously.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“الكائن الإنساني ليس إلا شعوراً بالوحدة. وحيد يحيط به وحيدون.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“And think about the precise meaning of that term: a Narcissus is not proud. A proud man has disdain for other people, he undervalues them. The Narcissus overvalues them, because in every person's eyes he sees his own image, and wants to embellish it. So he takes nice care of all his mirrors.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“أن تشعـر بالذنب أو تُشعـَرَ به. أعتقد أن كل شئ يكمن هنا. فالحياة هى صراع الجميع ضد الجميع. هذا معروف، لكن كيف يتجلى هذا الصراع فى مجتمع متمدن إلى هذا الحد ؟ لا يمكن للناس أن يهاجموا بعضهم بعضًا عندما يلتقون. يحاولون بدلًا من ذلك أن يلقوا على الآخرين عار الشعور بالذنب. وسيفـوز من ينجح فى جعل الآخـر مذنبًا. وسيخسر من يعترف بخطئه.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“الصمت يجذب الانتباه. وقد يكون مثيراً. يجعلك غامضاً أو مشبوهاً.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“People meet in the course of life, they talk together, they discuss, they quarrel, without realizing that they're talking to one another across a distance, each from an observation post standing in a different place in time.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“الحياة هى صراع الجميع ضد الجميع.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“التفاهة يا صديقى هى جوهر الوجود.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“The children laughing without knowing why - isn't that beautiful?”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“انظر! نصف هؤلاء الذين تراهم على الأقل قبيحون! أن يكون المرء قبيحًا! هل هذا أيضًا جزء من حقوق الإنسان؟ وهل تعرف أنه يحمل قبحه طيلة حياته؟ دون أية راحة؟ جنسك أيضًا، أنت لم تختره. ولم تختر لون عينيك ولا القرن الذى تحيا فيه. ولا بلدك. ولا أمك. لا أى شئ مهم. الحقوق التى يمكن أن يحصل عليها إنسان لا تتعلق إلا بتفاهات وليس ثمة سبب للصراع حولها أو كتابة إعلانات شهيرة عنها.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“هل تسمح لى أن أناديك بالأحمق؟ أجل، لا تغضب، أنت أحمق برأيي. وهل تعرف مصدر حماقتك؟ إنها طيبتك! طيبتك المثيرة للسخرية!”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“انهم مستعدون للذهاب الى اى مكان , لفعل اى شيئ ,فقط ليقتلوا الوقت الذى لا يعرفون ما يفعلون به.
لا يعرفون شيئا, لذلك يستسلمون للانقيادز”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“حين يحاول رجل لامع إغواء امرأة، يتولد لديها انطباع أنها تدخل في منافسة، وتضطر هي أيضًا للتألق، ولا تمنح نفسها دون مقاومة. بينما التفاهة تحررها، تجردها من حذرها. لا تتطلب أي حضور للنباهة، تجعلها لا مبالية ومن ثم سهلة المنال”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“من يعتذر فإنه يعترف بذنبه، وحين تعترف بذنبك، تشجِّع الآخر على الاستمرار في اهانتك وفضحك على الملأ حتى مماتك هذه هي العواقب الوخيمة للأعتذار..
هذا صحيح يجب علي المرء الا يعتذر، ولكني افضل عالماً يعتذر فيه الناس جميعاً، بلا استثناء، بلا داع، وبإفراط من أجل لا شئ..”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“Jedino što nam preostaje pobuna je protiv sudbine koju nismo izabrali.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“Of course, uniformity rules everywhere. But in this park it has a wider choice of uniforms. So you can hold on to the illusion of your own individuality.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“But how to define the eroticism of a man (or an era) that sees female seductive power as centered in the middle of the body, in the navel?”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“Nós compreendemos há muito tempo que não era mais possível mudar este mundo, nem remodelá-lo, nem impedir sua infeliz trajetória para a frente. Havia uma única resistência possível: não levá-lo a sério. Mas constato que nossas gozações perderam seu poder.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“El placer de la mistificación debía protegeros. Ésa fue de hecho nuestra estrategia, la de todos nosotros. Comprendimos desde hace mucho que ya no era posible subvertir el mundo, ni remodelarlo, ni detener su pobre huida hacia delante. Sólo había una resistencia posible: no tomarlo en serio.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“الحياة أقوى من الموت، لأن الحياة تتغذى على الموت!”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“ليس اكتمال التاريخ الانساني هو ما حلمت به، ولا إلغاء المستقبل، لا، لا، ما تمنيته هو الاختفاء الكلي للبشر مع مستقبلهم وماضيهم، مع بدايتهم ونهايتهم، مع كل فترة وجودهم، مع ذاكرتهم برمَّتها، مع نيرون ونابليون، مع بوذا والمسيح، تمنيتُ الفناء الكلي لشجرة متجذّرة في بطنٍ صغير بلا سرة لأول امرأة حمقاء لم تكن تعرف ما تفعله، وأي أهوال كلفنا جماعها البائس الذي لم يمنحها أية متعة بالتأكيد”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“We've known for a long time that it was no longer possible to overturn this world, nor reshape it, nor head off its dangerous headlong rush. There's been one possible resistance: to not take it seriously. But I think our jokes have lost their power...All you get out of it is weariness and boredom.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“،لن تعرف ذلك ابداً، كل ما تخيلته عني ليس سوي حكايات خرافية لكني احب حكايانك الخرافية حتى عندما صنعت مني قاتلة اغرقت شابا في النهر.. كل شئ يمتعني، استمر يا الان، اروي! تخيل! انا اصغي..”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“وانتبه إلى المعنى الدقيق لهذه الكلمة: النرجسي، ليس المتكبر..
فالمتكبر يحتقر الآخرين، يقلل من قدرهم،
أما النرجسي فيُغالي في تقديرهم، لأنه يرى في عيني كل واحد منهم صورته الخاصة ويريد تجميلها،
يهتم إذًا بلطف بكل مراياه.
وما يهم في نظرك من بينهما هو اللطيف، أما برأيي: فهو النفاج بالطبع.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“La insignificancia, amigo mío, es la esencia de la existencia.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

“Ludzie w życiu się spotykają, gawędzą, dyskutują, spierają nie uświadamiając sobie, że mówią do siebie z daleka, każdy z obserwatorium ustawionym w innym punkcie czasu.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from The Festival of Insignificance

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Popular quotes

“I read an article once that said that when women have a conversation, they're communicating on five levels. They follow the conversation that they're actually having, the conversation that is specifically being avoided, the tone being applied to the overt conversation, the buried conversation that is being covered only in subtext, and finally the other person's body language.
That is, on many levels, astounding to me. I mean, that's like having a freaking superpower. When I, and most other people with a Y chromosome, have a conversation, we're having a conversation. Singular. We're paying attention to what is being said, considering that, and replying to it. All these other conversations that have apparently been booing on for the last several thousand years? I didn't even know that they existed until I read that stupid article, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
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But yes. Yes, he can.
Our innate strengths just aren't the same. We are the mighty hunters, who are good at focusing on one thing at a time. For crying out loud, we have to turn down the radio in the car if we suspect we're lost and need to figure out how to get where we're going. That's how impaired we are. I'm telling you, we have only the one conversation. Maybe some kind of relationship veteran like Michael Carpenter can do two, but that's pushing the envelope. Five simultaneous conversations? Five?
Shah. That just isn't going to happen. At least, not for me.”
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― Richard Dawkins, quote from The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

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