“The Russians had done more than in­vade Czechoslovakia — they had sent their damn tanks crashing into our skulls, they had invaded the hopes of socialists all over the world.”

“Historical events as vast as the overthrow of world communism can be analyzed on a cosmic scale, the way astronomers study the universe by peering at whole galaxies. Or they can be analyzed in miniature, by focusing on a molecule”

“It is a party, and Václav is The Good King: relaxed, smothered in kisses and well-wishes ... the only president in living history who, in one breath, can quote John Lennon, Samuel Beckett, and Immanuel Kant”