Bohumír Koubek

“I used to frequent a place down at the bottom of Wenceslaus Square - there was a snack bar there, down on the corner. I used to go there for a sandwich. And one time, I look and there at the window - of the snack bar Koruna - I see Jan Zrzavý, standing, holding a cup of coffee, drinking with his spoon and sipping. He’s by the window and he’s looking at the bustle outside. Now or never, I thought to myself. I came up to him, introduced myself, I had an excuse of course, I wanted him to sign my book. And he said, then come by on such and such a day. So I came to his place, he had a lady there, a cook, although he could cook himself. So I started visiting him, until we became very good friends. And when the friendship was quite secure, I dared to ask him, beg of him, if he would sit as a model for me as a sculptor, that I would make his portrait. He said, very well, I’ll sit for you, though I wouldn’t for any other.”

“If hatred cumulates somewhere, it’s bad. It always comes to hit you in the end. That’s the way it is, that the things you send out are the things you get back. So if there’s some kind of fighting against others somewhere, it’ll eventually come back to hurt the people who caused it.”