How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph), with the exception of Part V, which runs (Part#. "Short Title". Paragraph). Part V has no numbered chapters—only title headings.
Quote #7
Man knows he cannot embrace the universe with its suns and stars. Much more unbearable is for him to be condemned to lack the other infinitude, that infinitude near at hand, within reach. Tamina lacked the infinitude of her love, I lacked Papa, and all of us are lacking in our work because in pursuit of perfection we go toward the core of the matter but never quite get to it. (VI.7.6)
Kundera explains his father's theories about Beethoven's variations. He calls them a journey inward, one that explores the great, infinite space of the human mind and soul. It's a much more complex journey than any voyage we can take in the external world, and it offers just as many possibilities of discovery. Each person embodies a particular "infinitude," so that when that person leaves us, it's really that infinite variety and depth that we are missing.
Kundera also says that this is the foundation of all our longing and sorrow, really. It's okay that we can't know the secrets of the universe or even check off everything on our bucket lists. But seems extra disappointing that we can't even get to the core of ourselves during our own lifetimes.
Quote #8
For death is not blue, and Tamina knows it just as well as I know it. Death is terrible drudgery. My father lay dying for days with a fever, and I had the impression that he was working hard. (VI.12.9)
Kundera's personal experience with death overlaps with Tamina's in this section. Both of them are utterly practical: they don't deal in any spiritual fiddle-faddle when it comes to nonexistence, and they won't have any poetry about it, either. While Kundera seems to appreciate Thomas Mann's allegories, he's seen death firsthand, and he knows that it's difficult work to die. He likens his father's journey into death to a hard journey on horseback to a distant place.
Tamina also has her own take on death. She knows it's the end of human dignity and modesty, that it involves a lack of control over who or what gets to have dealings with your body. There's just nothing ethereal about it.
Quote #9
...she had fallen far back to a time when her husband did not exist, when he was neither in memory nor in desire, and thus when there was neither weight nor remorse. (VI.15.1)
Tamina isn't sure why she's on the island with the creepy, hostile children, but she does understand that she's losing some of the angst that she once had when she was living her everyday life. She becomes lighter in being. When she enjoys the sensual pleasures given to her by the children, Kundera says that she's completely one with her body—because her soul has walked out of the room. That's the weighty bit of her, the thing that gave her a past, a memory, and a conscience. It's only when that weight returns to her that Tamina really runs into trouble on the island.