Having a child is to show an absolute accord with mankind. If I have a child, it's as though I'm saying: I was born and have tasted life and declare it so good that is merits being duplicated.
Milan Kundera
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In his work, "Farewell Waltz," Milan Kundera reflects on the profound significance of having a child. He suggests that becoming a parent is a powerful affirmation of life itself. To have a child is to express a deep agreement with the human experience, indicating that life is worth living and sharing. It's a declaration that life has been so meaningful and fulfilling that it deserves to be passed on to future generations.

Kundera's quote emphasizes the joy and value found in existence, framing parenthood as an optimistic choice. By bringing a new life into the world, one implicitly acknowledges the beauty and worth of one's own experiences, suggesting a continuity of life that is both hopeful and celebratory. This perspective invites readers to consider the impact of their own lives and the lives they choose to create.

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Farewell Waltz
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Milan Kundera
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February 23, 2025
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Other quotes in Farewell Waltz

What he did succeed in seeing behind him in his mind's eye was tiny, compressed like a closed accordion.
Milan Kundera Farewell Waltz
What he did succeed in seeing behind him in his mind's eye was tiny, compressed like a closed accordion.
The weirdos do not live badly, as long as people are lucky to comply with their strangeness.
Milan Kundera Farewell Waltz
The weirdos do not live badly, as long as people are lucky to comply with their strangeness.
What drove such people to their sinister occupations? Spite? Certainly, but also the desire for order. Because the desire for order tries to transform the human world into an inorganic reign in which everything goes well, everything functions as a subject of an impersonal will. The desire for order is at the same time a desire for death, because life is a perpetual violation of order. Or, inversely, the desire for order is a virtuous pretext by which man's hatred for man justifies its crimes.
Milan Kundera Farewell Waltz
What drove such people to their sinister occupations? Spite? Certainly, but also the desire for order. Because the desire for order tries to transform the human world into an inorganic reign in which everything goes well, everything functions as a subject of an impersonal will. The desire for order is at the same time a desire for death, because life is a perpetual violation of order. Or, inversely, the desire for order is a virtuous pretext by which man's hatred for man justifies its crimes.
Justice, in fact, should not be too interested in us. Justice is not a human thing. There is justice to the blind and rigid laws, and besides it, maybe some higher justice, but I do not understand that. It always seemed to me that in this world I was living out of justice. Justice is none of my business. Justice is something beyond me and above me. Whatever it takes, something inhuman. I will never work with that disgusting force.
Milan Kundera Farewell Waltz
Justice, in fact, should not be too interested in us. Justice is not a human thing. There is justice to the blind and rigid laws, and besides it, maybe some higher justice, but I do not understand that. It always seemed to me that in this world I was living out of justice. Justice is none of my business. Justice is something beyond me and above me. Whatever it takes, something inhuman. I will never work with that disgusting force.
You know, I think life should be accepted as it is. , means to accept the unpredictable. And the child is his collective image. The child is unpredictable. You do not know what will come out of it, what will bring you, and that is why you have to accept it. Otherwise, you live in half, you live as a person who can't swim and smokes off the coast, though the real sea is deep.
Milan Kundera Farewell Waltz
You know, I think life should be accepted as it is. , means to accept the unpredictable. And the child is his collective image. The child is unpredictable. You do not know what will come out of it, what will bring you, and that is why you have to accept it. Otherwise, you live in half, you live as a person who can't swim and smokes off the coast, though the real sea is deep.
... he realized that the path of love, which Bertlef had suggested, was closed to him; it was the path of saints, not of ordinary men.
Milan Kundera Farewell Waltz
... he realized that the path of love, which Bertlef had suggested, was closed to him; it was the path of saints, not of ordinary men.
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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Sociologists have a theory of the looking - glass self. You become what the most important person in your life {wife, father, boss, etc.} thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?
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Sociologists have a theory of the looking - glass self. You become what the most important person in your life {wife, father, boss, etc.} thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?
Arisha noticed that all the greenery and trees were dying the more they walked on. They finally arrived at a large clearing of a hidden valley. But it was desert like, bounded by the foothills of the mountains on one side and the dry rocky bluffs on the other. It seemed strange to Arisha. It seemed like a little pocket of dry desert death in the midst of an otherwise lively area. She stopped, stunned by the sight before her.
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Arisha noticed that all the greenery and trees were dying the more they walked on. They finally arrived at a large clearing of a hidden valley. But it was desert like, bounded by the foothills of the mountains on one side and the dry rocky bluffs on the other. It seemed strange to Arisha. It seemed like a little pocket of dry desert death in the midst of an otherwise lively area. She stopped, stunned by the sight before her.
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