Jaroslav Kalfař

The organization of religion is self-defeating, a trap for sin.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

His conviction is a compulsion not subject to self-preservation.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

For what it’s worth, the sociocultural rituals of your society seem to be in conflict with biological reality.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

The greatness of a nation is in its symbols, its gestures, in doing things that are unprecedented. It’s why the Americans are falling behind—they built a nation on the idea of doing new things, and now they’d rather sit and pray that the world won’t make them adapt too much.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

The body must not be violated. This is the greatest truth of the universe.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

In one book, your father is a hero. In another book, he is a monster. The men who don’t have books written about them have it easier.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

I have visited a few astronauts, but all three either ignored me or prayed. The senseless chanting, I confess, repulsed me.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

Miracles were nonsense, mere coping mechanisms.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

His presence was soothing, but his existence incomprehensible.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

Death would be so much easier to dance with if it weren’t surrounded by the clutter of civilization.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

To fear a truth! Blasphemy!

— Jaroslav Kalfař

I wonder which group I belong to. Can I be with the youth, the hedonists turning Prague into a playground of the Old Continent? Or does my destination, the science department of Univerzita Karlova, put me in with that other dreaded group, the adults, those who get up in the morning and know exactly how their day will unravel, those who live on the exchange system of work, awaiting their grave with quiet politeness?

— Jaroslav Kalfař

Being of use to the world doesn’t always mean having your name in the papers...My plea to you is, think beyond celebrity. Do you think Tesla cared if he had his picture taken? Think of whether you’re any good to anyone, truly.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

The universe assigned the tasks of speaking and kissing to the lips because there is never a need to do both at the same time.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

What did you expect? the core asked me. No, I asked that of myself. Another projection. My desperation to ascribe personality and will to capricious outcomes of chaos. The true kings of the world, elements and particles, had no agenda except movement.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

I wanted the basic needs of human existence—satiation of hunger, good health, love—to take on the shapes of small fruits we could plant and harvest. But who would be the plantation owners, and who the harvesters?

— Jaroslav Kalfař

“My father never did anything else after that,” Valerie said. “Mostly, he became a drunk. But a man only needs one thing to be proud of. It will carry him through the rest of his life.”

— Jaroslav Kalfař

I couldn’t exist here. In the world that had come into being due to my absence.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

Thus we never see the true State of our Condition, till it is illustrated to us by its Contraries; nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.

— Jaroslav Kalfař

“Do you feel free?”“Freedom can feel that way.”

— Jaroslav Kalfař

In this future, we were free of systems. Other humans went on to become symbols, sacrificed their lives to serve. Other humans handled the torture, the coups, the healing. We simply sowed, harvested, and drank a bit before dinner. No one tried to take what was ours. We had too little. We were invisible, and in this slower life we were our own gods.

— Jaroslav Kalfař