The children laughing without knowing why - isn't that beautiful?
Milan Kundera
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In "The Festival of Insignificance," Milan Kundera reflects on the innocence and purity of childhood through the simple joy of children laughing. Their laughter encapsulates a moment of unawareness about life's complexities, highlighting a beauty in spontaneity and simplicity that often eludes adults. This laughter serves as a reminder of the untainted joy that comes from living in the present, free from the burdens of understanding and seriousness.

Kundera's observation invites readers to consider the profound beauty found in moments of insignificance. He suggests that there is something deeply human about laughing without a clear reason, celebrating the trivial aspects of life. This perspective encourages a shift in focus from the weight of existential concerns to the transient delights that life offers, urging us to appreciate the small, often overlooked joys that define our experiences.

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The Festival of Insignificance
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Milan Kundera
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February 23, 2025
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Other quotes in The Festival of Insignificance

The completion of human history is not what I dreamed of, nor to cancel the future, no, no, what I wished is the total disappearance of human beings with their future and past, with their beginning and end, with every period of their existence, with their entire memory, with Nero and Napoleon, with Buddha and Christ, I wished the annihilation The kidneys of a tree rooted in a small stomach without a navel to the first foolish woman who did not know what she was doing, and any horrors We assigned her miserable intercourse, which did not give her any fun
Milan Kundera The Festival of Insignificance
The completion of human history is not what I dreamed of, nor to cancel the future, no, no, what I wished is the total disappearance of human beings with their future and past, with their beginning and end, with every period of their existence, with their entire memory, with Nero and Napoleon, with Buddha and Christ, I wished the annihilation The kidneys of a tree rooted in a small stomach without a navel to the first foolish woman who did not know what she was doing, and any horrors We assigned her miserable intercourse, which did not give her any fun
The insignificance, my friend, is the essence of existence.
Milan Kundera The Festival of Insignificance
The insignificance, my friend, is the essence of existence.
Life is stronger than death, because life feeds on death!
Milan Kundera The Festival of Insignificance
Life is stronger than death, because life feeds on death!
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 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?
When a shiny man tries to seduce a woman, she has the impression that she enters into competition, she is also forced to shine, and does not give herself without resistance. While the banality liberates it, stripping it of caution. Do not require any attendance at the usuria, make it indifferent and then easy to reach
Milan Kundera The Festival of Insignificance
When a shiny man tries to seduce a woman, she has the impression that she enters into competition, she is also forced to shine, and does not give herself without resistance. While the banality liberates it, stripping it of caution. Do not require any attendance at the usuria, make it indifferent and then easy to reach
The only thing we have left to do is the rebellion against the fate we did not choose.
Milan Kundera The Festival of Insignificance
The only thing we have left to do is the rebellion against the fate we did not choose.
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Other quotes in meaning

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.
Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.
Art-the meaning of the pattern of our common actions in reality. The cloth-of-gold that hides behind the sackcloth of reality, forced out by the pain of human memory.
Lawrence Durrell Justine
Art-the meaning of the pattern of our common actions in reality. The cloth-of-gold that hides behind the sackcloth of reality, forced out by the pain of human memory.
Human lives are hard, even those of health and privilege, and don't make much sense. This is the message of the Book of Job: Any snappy explanation of suffering you come up with will be horseshit.
Anne Lamott Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers
Human lives are hard, even those of health and privilege, and don't make much sense. This is the message of the Book of Job: Any snappy explanation of suffering you come up with will be horseshit.
If I can write just one poem that will turn the minds of a few to a more decent outlook...what does it matter if I compose a bad line or lose my reputation as a craftsman?...I used to think it very important to write only good poetry. Over and over I worked it to make it as flawless as I could. What does it matter now, when men are dying for their hopes and their ideals? If I live or die as a poet it won't matter, but anyone who believes in democracy and freedom and love and culture and peace ought to be busy now. He cannot wait for the tomorrow.
Nancy Milford Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
If I can write just one poem that will turn the minds of a few to a more decent outlook...what does it matter if I compose a bad line or lose my reputation as a craftsman?...I used to think it very important to write only good poetry. Over and over I worked it to make it as flawless as I could. What does it matter now, when men are dying for their hopes and their ideals? If I live or die as a poet it won't matter, but anyone who believes in democracy and freedom and love and culture and peace ought to be busy now. He cannot wait for the tomorrow.
nothing would have meaning, because the knowing was itself the meaning; beyond that there was nothing to know.
Paul Bowles The Spider's House
nothing would have meaning, because the knowing was itself the meaning; beyond that there was nothing to know.
Lying here, during all this time after my own small fall, it has become my conviction that things mean pretty much what we want them to mean. We'll pluck significance from the least consequential happenstance if it suits us and happily ignore the most flagrantly obvious symmetry between separate aspects of our lives if it threatens some cherished prejudice or cosily comforting belief; we are blindest to precisely whatever might be most illuminating.
Iain M. Banks Transition
Lying here, during all this time after my own small fall, it has become my conviction that things mean pretty much what we want them to mean. We'll pluck significance from the least consequential happenstance if it suits us and happily ignore the most flagrantly obvious symmetry between separate aspects of our lives if it threatens some cherished prejudice or cosily comforting belief; we are blindest to precisely whatever might be most illuminating.
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Popular quotes

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