She loved to walk down the street with a book under her arm. It differentiated her from the others - Milan Kundera

We can reproach ourselves for some action, for a remark, but not for a feeling, quite simply because we have no control at all over it.

Art must always stand guard against stirring emotions that lie outside the aesthetic: sexual arousal, terror, disgust, shock.

His connection to his life was that of a sculptor to his statue or a novelist to his novel. It is an inviolable right of a novelist to rework his novel. If the opening does not please him, he can rewrite or delete it. But Zdena's existence denied Mirek that author's prerogative. Zdena insisted on remaining on the opening pages of the novel and did not let herself be crossed out.