In the presence of Esch, values have hidden their faces. Order, loyalty, sacrifice—he cherishes all these words, but exactly what do they represent? Sacrifice for what? Demand what sort of order? He doesn't know. If a value has lost its concrete content, what is left of it? A mere empty form; an imperative that goes unheeded and, all the more furious, demands to be heard and obeyed. The less Esch knows what he wants, the more furiously he wants it. Esch: the fanaticism of the era with no God. Because all values have hidden their faces, anything can be considered a value. Justice, order—Esch seeks them now in the trade union struggle, then in religion; today in police power, tomorrow in the mirage of America, where he dreams of emigrating. He could be a terrorist or a repentant terrorist turning in his comrades, or a party militant or a cult member a kamikaze prepared to sacrifice his life. All the passions rampaging through the bloody history of our time are taken up, unmasked, and terrifyingly displayed in Esch's modest adventure.
Milan Kundera
Related Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. You must save what you can of your life; you musn't lose it all simply because you've lost a part. HENRY JAMES I am often asked how it is that I am able to value people to such a deep degree. Apparently, I exhib... C. JOYBELL C. (All the grief she had suffered over her lifetime had moulded her face into a mask of eternal sadnes... JEAN SASSON You're full of contradictions, Ms. Wallace." I looked up at him and arched a brow. "I'm a girl... TAMMARA WEBBER The only way he could have her was to shatter this stubborn faith of hers. In doing so, would he sha... FRANCINE RIVERS If I provide for this life and turn away from the Lord, I am wise for a moment, but lost forever. FRANCINE RIVERS The only way he could have her was to shatter this stubborn faith of hers. In doing so, would he sha... FRANCINE RIVERS She wasn't bitter. She was sad, though. But it was a hopeful kind of sad. The kind of sad that just ... STEPHEN CHBOSKY So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even... STEPHEN CHBOSKY I love my mom so much. I don't care if that's corny to say. I think on my next birthday, I'm going t... STEPHEN CHBOSKY We Are All Infinite STEPHEN CHBOSKY You can't just sit there and put everyone's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You ... STEPHEN CHBOSKY I saw other people there. Old men sitting alone. Young girls with blue eye shadow and awkward jaws. ... STEPHEN CHBOSKY That one moment when you know you are not a sad story. You are ALIVE. STEPHAN CHBOSKY Somos quienes somos por un montón de razones.Quizás nunca conozcamos la mayoría de ellas.Pero aun... STEPHEN CHBOSKY Ambos dijeron que tomara asiento y parecían hablar en serio, así que me senté. STEPHEN CHBOSKY I know these will all be stories some day, and our pictures will become old photographs. We all beco... STEPHEN CHBOSKY So I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybewe'll never know most of them. STEPHEN CHBOSKY So I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. STEPHEN CHBOSKY There's nothing like the deep breathes after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore st... STHEPHEN CHBOSKY no more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks, when the teacher rings the bell, drop... STEPHEN CHBOSKY I don't know the significance of this, but I find it very interesting. STEPHEN CHBOSKY Maybe it’s sad that these are now memories. And maybe it’s not sad. STEPHEN CHBOSKY You deserve to be with somebody, who knows you're the one, from that very first moment he lays eyes ... C. JOYBELL C. We're always taught that God wants us to always only say "I can't do this without You God" , "Whatev... C. JOYBELL C. Never give up on you. In order to make a difference you would have to somehow be different. JOHNNIE DENT JR. I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES I was very grateful to have heard it again. Because I guess we all forget sometimes. And I think eve... STEPHEN CHBOSKY I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if... STEPHEN CHBOSKY Wake up to a brand new day and realize why you woke up to meet the day! Live to the end of another d... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH There is no greater glory than to die for love. GABRIEL GARCíA MáRQUEZ Together they had overcome the daily incomprehension, the instantaneous hatred, the reciprocal nasti... GABRIEL GARCíA MáRQUEZ She would defend herself, saying that love, no matter what else it might be, was a natural talent. S... GABRIEL GARCíA MáRQUEZ The mark of a real man, is a man who can allow himself to fall deeply in love with a woman. But the ... C. JOYBELL C. He wanted to be loved for being just what he was. 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NAPZ CHERUB PELLAZO He brings the greatest conflict into the history of mankind. He will come soon to our world just lik... TOBA BETA She would tuck Sam into her heart, a bright light for her to take out whenever things were darkest. SARAH J. MAAS Now is the only time we have, and the only time that we have any control over. RICHARD CARLSON There was a house at the foot of the tower, close to the thunder of the waves breaking against the c... GABRIEL GARCíA MáRQUEZ He is deaf, and keen to accept, any economical operation, that will correct his situation.... JASLEEN KAUR GUMBER It may be the kind where, at the age of thirty, you sit in some bar hating everybody who comes in lo... J.D. SALINGER He gave them what they demanded of him, he obeyed the command, but not sullenly or diffidently, and ... GUY GAVRIEL KAY All his life he has been in the shadow of Grandfather, and of the man for whom he was named." .... RAYMOND E. FEIST The more God is glorified the more man is energic and the more satan is weak. INDONESIA123 She was intimidating and all I could do was sit back on the couch as she paced back and forth, slowl... IN THE MAKING A new day is here! yesterday is gone! tomorrow is preparing to come! but why is today here? ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Oh happy day! A day to make a hay! And when it is mid-day, think about the day! And when you think a... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH And while I'm sure they're very admirable and brave and all the rest of it, I don't personally fancy... J.K. ROWLING The only deadly disease I have seen that is causing great harm and massacre latently yet the world h... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH the deceased don’t want you to forget about them. They just want you to move past it; not to dwell... JUSTIN PYFROM In a world in which the common rule which binds and regulates what the general masses feel is underm... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Clay in the hands of a good potter suffers so many good turns, but in the end, we see its real and t... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH While a picture paints a thousand words, a thousand words paints a masterpiece. WILLIE HAYNES Avoid the temptation to force a moment so you won’t miss the one with your name on it. GINA GREENLEE Absoballylutely top hole, wot. A and B the C of D I'd say. . . Above and Beyond the Call of Duty. BRIAN JACQUES What counts, in the long run, is not what you read; it is what you sift through your own mind; it is... ELEANOR ROOSEVELT Naive people tend to generalize people as—-good, bad, kind, or evil based on their actions. Howeve... SHANNON L. ALDER All that the spider needs to complete its web is step taking ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH A man drank and became drunk, next he said, now i am delivered from my enemies and then walked into ... SOTONYE ANGA Each man lives in his own universe and when he dies the world is over BANGAMBIKI HABYARIMANA We begin to fight. The wind and I. Horns locked. Battling each other with elements. LAURA DOCKRILL WHAT DADDY WOULD HAVE DONE First he would have listened intently which one could always t... URSULA DENISE WALKER For starters, that’s a rather simple principle of Time Travel right there – and according to the... CHRISTINA ENGELA I just want you to know that you’re very special… and the only reason I’m telling you is that ... STEPHEN CHBOSKY I thought I would write a love letter. But then, I wrote a book." - Suzy Davies, on "Johari's Window SUZY DAVIES The Dream of a Queer Fellow I write the words again and they appear doubly pregnant with meaning. It... JOHN MIDDLETON MURRY If you have read this far in the chronicle of the Baudelaire orphans - and I certainly hope you have... LEMONY SNICKET A person of value have skill, a vision & a deep desire to achieve what they dream for. 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Even longer,' Pooh answered.” ... A.A. MILNE Now is the only time we have, and the only time we have any control over. RICHARD CARLSON The question that faces every man born into this world is not what should be his purpose, which he s... LIN YUTANG This is the secret of happiness that you have been looking for: If you are moving in the ... ABRAHAM HICKS In Hong Kong, I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera”, in which the hero... GRAEME SIMSION With his bare hands Mulder dug at the loose earth. After a minute, he said, 'I've go it. I just have... LES MARTIN
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MILAN KUNDERA During the twenty years of Odesseus' absence, the people of Ithaca retained many recollections of hi... MILAN KUNDERA ქვეყნისათვის სიცოცხლის გაწირვა: ყველ... MILAN KUNDERA Mesmerized, all she can do is watch this piece of her life move off; all she can do is watch it and ... MILAN KUNDERA All predictions are wrong, that's one of the few certainties granted to mankind. MILAN KUNDERA In that etymological light nostalgia seems something like the pain of ignorance, of not knowing. You... MILAN KUNDERA If in the past people would listen to music out of love for music, nowadays it roars everywhere and ... MILAN KUNDERA إذ يستطيع جيشان كبيران أن يتصارعا حتى الموت من أجل قضاي... MILAN KUNDERA A person who messes up her goodbyes shouldn't expect much from her reunions. MILAN KUNDERA That’s another enigma about memory, more basic than all the rest: do recollections have some measu... MILAN KUNDERA كلما كان الزمن الذي نخلفه وراءنا أكبر كلما أصبح الصوت ا... MILAN KUNDERA In Spanish añoranza comes from the verb añorar (to feel nostalgia), which comes from the Catalan e... MILAN KUNDERA Remembering now all those farewells (fake farewells, worked-up farewells), Irena thinks: a person wh... MILAN KUNDERA تختفي الذكريات إذا لم تُستحضر مرة وأخرى في أحاديث الأص�... MILAN KUNDERA أتخيل انفعال كائنين يلتقيان بعد سنوات. قديما تعاشرا، ف�... MILAN KUNDERA Now time has a very different look; it is no longer the conquering present capturing the future; it ... MILAN KUNDERA When she is older she will see in these resemblances a regrettable uniformity among individuals (the... MILAN KUNDERA We will never cease our critique of those persons who distort the past, rewrite it, falsify it, who ... MILAN KUNDERA En griego, «regreso» se dice nostos. Algos significa “sufrimiento”. La nostalgia es, pues, el ... MILAN KUNDERA And there lies the horror: the past we remember is devoid of time. Impossible to reexperience a love... MILAN KUNDERA The more vast the amount of time we've left behind us, the more irresistible is the voice calling us... MILAN KUNDERA Man can only be certain about the present moment. But is that quite true either? Can he really know ... MILAN KUNDERA To die; to decide to die; that's much easier for an adolescent than for an adult. What? Doesn't deat... MILAN KUNDERA The girl was grateful to the young man for every bit of flattery; she wanted to linger for a moment ... MILAN KUNDERA Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything ex... MILAN KUNDERA Flirting is a promise of sexual intercourse without a guarantee. MILAN KUNDERA The only relationship that can make both partners happy is one in which sentimentality has no place ... MILAN KUNDERA But when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave. MILAN KUNDERA Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and ... MILAN KUNDERA When we want to give expression to a dramatic situation in our lives, we tend to use metaphors of he... MILAN KUNDERA Perhaps all the questions we ask of love, to measure, test, probe, and save it, have the additional ... MILAN KUNDERA Yes, it was too late, and Sabina knew she would leave Paris, move on, and on again, because were she... MILAN KUNDERA The serial number of a human specimen is the face, that accidental and unrepeatable combination of f... MILAN KUNDERA In the political jargon of those days, the word "intellectual" was an insult. It indicated someone w... MILAN KUNDERA A young woman forced to keep drunks supplied with beer and siblings with clean underwear -instead of... MILAN KUNDERA I had all kinds of answers ready for the commissions that called me in and asked me what had made me... MILAN KUNDERA Too much faith is the worst ally. When you believe in something literally, through your faith you'll... MILAN KUNDERA I know, brother, that you are a straightforward man, and that you pride yourself on it. But put one ... MILAN KUNDERA Certainty. Life's last and kindest gift. MILAN KUNDERA Sometimes you make up your mind about something without knowing why, and your decision persists by t... MILAN KUNDERA Kitsch is the inability to admit that shit exists MILAN KUNDERA Yes, it's crazy. Love is either crazy or it's nothing at all. MILAN KUNDERA To laugh is to live profoundly. MILAN KUNDERA The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting MILAN KUNDERA The worst thing is not that the world is unfree, but that people have unlearned their liberty. ... MILAN KUNDERA