Arnošt Lustig is one of the leading contemporary Czech fiction writers, and certainly the most important Jewish writer of Bohemia to have survived the Holocaust.

There is beauty everywhere on earth, but there is greater beauty in those places where one feels that sense of ease which comes from no longer having to put off one’s dreams until some improbable future – a future inexorably shrinking away where the fear that has pervaded one’s life suddenly vanishes because there is... nothing to be afraid of.

There is something that falls short of perfection in every book, without exception, something influenced by the age, even something ridiculous just like everyone, without exception, has weaknesses.

When the Communist Party comes to power, it acts a lot like the mafia: If you are a loyal member in good standing, everything is yours. You're protected, even if you commit a crime.

We may think we live for wisdom, but in fact we're living for the the pleasure wisdom brings us.