some quotes i've liked thus far in the unbearable lightness of being.

"In spite of their love, they had made each other's life a hell. The fact that they loved each other was merely proof that the fault lay not in themselves, in their behavior or inconstancy of feeling, but rather in their incompatibility: he was strong and she was weak."

i struggle with the division of concepts into dualities, like weak and strong. duality is a way to simplify, to me, and it often isn't simple at all. also, i haven't quiet disarmed all the connotations that "weak" has as relating to the female gender. but anyhow, the female character is weak because of her total dependence on another human being in a foreign country (they emigrated). it's a horrifying situation to come to depend solely on one human for everything (love, empathy, social interaction, whatever else). it's really easy to get that lazy in relationships, etc. the worse part of it is the question of do you stay together or not & why.


"She had the overwhelming desire to tell him, like the most banal of women, Don't let me go, hold me tight, make me your plaything, your slave, be strong! But they were words she could not say.

The only thing she said when he released her from his embrace was, 'You don't know how happy I am to be with you.' That was the most her reserved nature allowed her to express."

the difficulty of communication. we can't express what we mean.


"Try as she might to intensify the longing, summon it to her aid, lean on it, the feeling of distaste only grew stronger."

falling out of _____.