Of course, even before Flaubert, people knew stupidity existed, but they understood it somewhat differently: it was considered a simple absence of kn… - Milan Kundera

This was exactly what the girl had most dreaded all her life and had scrupulously avoided until now: lovemaking without emotion or love. She knew that she had crossed the forbidden boundary, but she proceeded across it without objections and as a full participant; only somewhere, far off in a corner of her consciousness, did she feel horror at the thought that she had never known such pleasure, never so much pleasure as at this moment — beyond that boundary.

From that time on they both looked forward to sleeping together. I might even say that the goal of their lovemaking was not so much pleasure as the sleep that followed it. She especially was affected. Whenever she stayed overnight in her rented room (which quickly became only an alibi for Tomas), she was unable to fall asleep; in his arms she would fall asleep no matter how wrought up she might have been. He would whisper impromptu fairy tales about her, or gibberish, words he repeated monotonously, words soothing or comical, which turned into vague visions lulling her through the first dreams of the night. He had complete control over her sleep: she dozed off at the second he chose.

!Do you realise what is the eternal precondition of tragedy? The existence of ideals which are considered more valuable than human life. [...] Thy drive you to your death because presumably there is something greater than your life. War can only exist in a world of tragedy. [...] The age of tragedy can be ended any by the revolt of frivolity. [...] Frivolity is a radical diet for weight-reduction. things will lose ninety percent of their meaning and will become light. In such a weightless environment fanaticism will disappear. War will become impossible.