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
Love's absolute is actually a desire for absolute identity: the woman we love ought to swim as slowly as we do, she ought to have no past of her own to look back on happily. But when the illusion of absolute identity vanishes (the girl looks back happily on her past or swims faster), love becomes a permanent source of the great torment we call litost. (V. "Litost?".7)
And this is what makes litost the sole property of men in Kundera's work. There's something about the pride of his male characters that demands that all of history (whether personal or political) reshape itself to their benefits. We see that with Mirek, Karel, the student, some of the poets, and Jan.
Quote #8
"Joking is the enemy of love and poetry. That's why I tell you yet again, and want you to keep in mind: Boccaccio doesn't understand love. Love can never be laughable. Love has nothing in common with laughter." (V. "Boccaccio's Laughter".17)
All of you potential lovers out there who say you want a partner with a great sense of humor, beware: you're dooming your chances for true love—according to Petrarch, at least. Kundera's Petrarch (who has everything in common with the real Petrarch) takes a super serious view of love: there can be no hilarity in sex or wooing, or the mood will be broken. Everything about love can be cheapened by laughter since we can never know for sure how to interpret it.
Quote #9
She loved him so much it would kill her, she loved him to the point of being afraid to make love with him because if she were to make love with him, she would never be able to live without him, and she would die of grief and desire. (V. "Angels Hover".10)
The love story between Kristyna and the student is marred by an inability to communicate properly. When Kristyna tries to tell her lover about her very real physical issues, he misunderstands. Instead of taking her declaration at face value, the student gets poetical and starts reading between the lines. He interprets her fear of death as metaphorical and runs with it. But Kristyna is not wholly innocent in this, either: she fears "sullying" their love by speaking in practical terms. For her, love is a fragile thing to be handled with kid gloves.