Franz Kafka Quotes

He has the feeling that merely by being alive he is blocking his own way. From this sense of hindrance, in turn, he deduces the proof that he is alive.

sleep is the most innocent creature there is and a sleepless manthe most guilty.

One tells as few lies as possible only by telling as few lies as possible and not by having the least possible opportunity to do so.

If you have food in your jaws you have solved all questions for the time being.

You misinterpret everything, even the silence.

It is only because of their stupidity that they are able to be so sure of themselves.

...evolution propels itself by an inclination toward its next probable achievement." ("Desire")

Even if no salvation should come, I want to be worthy of it at every moment.

She is so distinct to me, it's as though I had run my hands all over her.

But all remains unchanged.

You have given me a gift such as I never even dreamt of finding in this life.

I look a girl in the eye and it was a very long love story with thunder and kisses and lightning. I live fast.

Life is hard, the earth stubborn, science rich in knowledge but poor in practical results.

If I could drown in sleep as I drown in fear I would be no longer alive.

Could K. represent the congregation all by himself? What if he had been a stranger merely visiting the church? That was more or less his position.

I don't think that anyone outside Paris can understand love and murder as we do.But Emile loves Paris, and loving Paris is a murderous education. ("Anthropology: What Is Lost In Rotation")

Incidentally, it’s easy to write prescriptions, but difficult to come to an understanding with people.

I have associated myself with failed scientists in order to associate myself with failed irony. ("Metier: Why I Don't Write Like Franz Kafka")

One hears a great many things, true, but can gather nothing definite.

Guilt is never to be doubted.

All right then, I’ll be mad at you on this score, which incidentally is no great misfortune, as things balance out quite well if there’s a little anger for you lurking in one corner of my heart.

Herr Kafka, essen Sie keine Eier." (As one and only piece of dialog K recalls from his meeting with Rudolf Steiner - "Mr. Kafka don't eat eggs.

Am I to leave this world as a man who shies away from all conclusions?

It occurs to me that I really can't remember your face in any precise detail. Only the way you walked away through the tables in the café, your figure, your dress, that I still see.

One idiot is one idiot. Two idiots are two idiots. Ten thousand idiots are a political party.

He had probably been thrown out of a wine shop, and it hadn't quite dawned on him yet.

I am a very unhappy human being and you, dearest, simply had to be summoned to create an equilibrium for all this misery.

I believe that we should only read those books that bite and sting us. If a book does not rouse us with a blow then why read it?

Don't be too hasty, don't take somebody else's opinion without testing it.

But what now if all the peace, the comfort, the contentment were to come to a horrible end?

Nothing, nothing, the whole long day, nothing.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

No sooner is it a little calmer with me than it is almost too calm as though I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy

One must not cheat anybody not even the world of one's triumph.