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Franz Kafka

54 quotes

• “Verlassen sind wir doch wie verirrte Kinder im Walde. Wenn Du vor mir stehst und mich ansiehst, was weißt Du von den Schmerzen, die in mir sind und was weiß ich von den Deinen. Und wenn ich mich vor Dir niederwerfen würde und weinen und erzählen, was wüßtest Du von mir mehr als von der Hölle, wenn Dir jemand erzählt, sie ist heiß und fürchterlich. Schon darum sollten wir Menschen vor einander so ehrfürchtig, so nachdenklich, so liebend stehn wie vor dem Eingang zur Hölle.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Letter to Oskar Pollak (8 November 1903); cited from Briefe, 1902-1924 (1958) edited by [Max Brod]], p. 27 ; translation from Franz Kafka, Representative Man (1991) by Frederick R. Karl, p. 98

• “Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence... Someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence, certainly never.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Silence of the Sirens" (October 1917)

• “The bliss of murder! The relief, the soaring ecstasy from the shedding of another’s blood! Wese, old nightbird, friend, alehouse crony, you are oozing away into the dark earth below the street. Why aren’t you simply a bladder of blood so that I could stamp on you and make you vanish into nothingness? Not all we want comes true, not all the dreams that blossomed have borne fruit, your solid remains lie here, already indifferent to every kick. What’s the good of the dumb question you are asking?”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: A Fratricide" (1917)

• “Plenty of hope — for God — no end of hope — only not for us.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: In conversation with Max Brod (1920), after Brod had queried on there being "hope outside this manifestation of the world that we know", as quoted in Franz Kafka: A Biography [Franz Kafka, eine Biographie] (1937) by Max…

• “Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “What a fate: to be condemned to work for a firm where the slightest negligence at once gave rise to the gravest suspicion! Were all the employees nothing but a bunch of scoundrels, was there not among them one single loyal devoted man who, had he wasted only an hour or so of the firm's time in the morning, was so tormented by conscience as to be driven out of his mind and actually incapable of leaving his bed?”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Hey, there’s something falling down in there," said the chief clerk. Gregor tried to suppose to himself that what had happened to him might some day also happen to the chief clerk. There was no denying that anything was possible.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Was he an animal, that music could move him so? He felt as if the way to the unknown nourishment he longed for were coming to light.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning. He still saw that outside the window everything was beginning to grow light. Then, without his consent, his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning. His landlady's cook, who always brought him his breakfast at eight o'clock, failed to appear on this occasion. That had never happened before.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It would have been so pointless to kill himself that, even if he had wanted to, the pointlessness would have made him unable.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “They're talking about things of which they don't have the slightest understanding, anyway. It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “This question of yours, Sir, about my being a house painter — or rather, not a question, you simply made a statement — is typical of the whole character of this trial that is being foisted on me. You may object that it is not a trial at all; you are quite right, for it is only a trial if I recognize it as such. But for the moment I do recognize it, on grounds of compassion, as it were. One can't regard it except with compassion, if one is to regard it at all. I do not say that your procedure is contemptible, but I should like to present that epithet to you for your private consumption.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The right understanding of any matter and a misunderstanding of the same matter do not wholly exclude each other.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “What an obstacle had suddenly arisen to block K.'s career! And this was the moment when he was supposed to work for the bank? He looked down at his desk. This the time to interview clients and negotiate with them? While his case was unfolding itself, while up in the attics the Court officials were poring over the charge papers, was he to devote his attention to the affairs of the bank? It looked like a kind of torture sanctioned by the Court, arising from his case and concomitant with it.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Even that has its reason; it is often better to be in chains than to be free.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “'...it is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary.' 'A melancholy conclusion,' said K. 'It turns lying into a universal principle.In the Cathedral”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Logic may indeed be unshakeable, but it cannot withstand a man who is determined to live. Where was the judge he had never seen? Where was the High Court he had never reached? He raised his hands and spread out all his fingers. But the hands of one of the men closed round his throat, just as the other drove the knife deep into his heart and turned it twice.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Like a dog!" he said, it was as if the shame of it should outlive him.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I dream of a grave, deep and narrow, where we could clasp each other in our arms as with clamps, and I would hide my face in you and you would hide your face in me, and nobody would ever see us any more”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “One must fight to get to the top, especially if one starts at the bottom.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There's no quiet place here on earth for our love, not in the village and not anywhere else, so I picture a grave, deep and narrow, in which we embrace as if clamped together, I bury my face against you, you yours against me, and no one will ever see us.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If a man has his eyes bound, you can encourage him as much as you like to stare through the bandage, but he'll never see anything”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The whole visible world is perhaps nothing more than the rationalization of a man who wants to find peace for a moment. An attempt to falsify the actuality of knowledge, to regard knowledge as a goal still to be reached.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The Messiah will come only when he is no longer necessary; he will come only on the day after his arrival; he will come, not on the last day, but on the very last day.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I can prove at any time that my education tried to make another person out of me than the one I became. It is for the harm, therefore, that my educators could have done me in accordance with their intentions that I reproach them; I demand from their hands the person I now am, and since they cannot give him to me, I make of my reproach and laughter a drumbeat sounding in the world beyond.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1910 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: (July 1910)

• “Don't you want to join us?" I was recently asked by an acquaintance when he ran across me alone after midnight in a coffeehouse that was already almost deserted. "No, I don't," I said.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: (June 1914)

• “Germany has declared war on Russia. Swimming in the afternoon.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Diary entry for August 2nd, 1914, quoted in "Fighting a private war", Irish Times (Oct 20 2001)

• “Eternal childhood. Life calls again. It is entirely conceivable that life’s splendour forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come. This is the essence of magic, which does not create but summons.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: (18 October 1921)

• “Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate — he has little success in this — but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins, for he sees different (and more) things than do the others; after all, dead as he is in his own lifetime, he is the real survivor. This assumes that he does not need both hands, or more hands than he has, in his struggle against despair.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: (19 October 1921)

• “Hat matt nicht die Augen, um sich sie auszureißen und das Herz zum gleichen Zweck? Dabei ist es ja nicht so schlimm, das ist Übertreibung und Lüge, alles ist Übertreibung, nur die Sehnsucht ist wahr, die kann man nicht übertreiben. Aber selbst die Wahrheit der Sehnsucht ist nicht so sehr ihre Wahrheit, als vielmehr der Ausdruck der Lüge alles übrigen sonst. Es klingt verdreht, aber es ist so. Auch ist es vielleicht nicht eigentlich Liebe wenn ich sage, daß Du mir das Liebste bist; Liebe ist, daß Du mir das Messer bist, mit dem ich in mir wühle.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Letter to Milena Jesenská (14 September 1920)

• “The history of mankind is the instant between two strides taken by a traveler.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The thornbush is old obstacle in the road. It must catch fire if you want to go further.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There was once a community of scoundrels, that is to say, they were not scoundrels, but ordinary people.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Anyone who believes cannot experience miracles. By day one does not see any stars. Anyone who does miracles says: I cannot let go of the earth.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 21 November 1917

• “Religions get lost as people do.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Das Böse weiß vom Guten, aber das Gute vom Bösen nicht. Selbsterkenntnis hat nur das Böse. - Die Acht Oktavhefte; published by BookRix, 9-8-2014.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Now at last I can look at you in peace, I don't eat you anymore.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “What is meant by its nature for the highest and the best, spreads among the lowly people.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A man once said: Why such reluctance? If you only followed the parables you yourselves would become parables and with that rid of all your daily cares. Another said: I bet that is also a parable. The first said: You have won. The second said: But unfortunately only in parable. The first said: No, in reality: in parable you have lost.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On Parables" (1922), translation by Willa and Edwin Muir

• “Everything you say is boring and incomprehensible," she said, "but that alone doesn't make it true.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Oh well, memories,” said I. “Yes, even remembering in itself is sad, yet how much more its object! Don’t let yourself in for things like that, it’s not for you and it’s not for me. It only weakens one’s present position without strengthening the former one — nothing is more obvious — quite apart from the fact that the former one doesn’t need strengthening.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When . . . some leisurely passer-by stopped . . . and spoke of cheating, that was in its way the stupidest lie ever invented by indifference and inborn malice, since it was not the hunger artist who was cheating, he was working honestly, but the world was cheating him of his reward.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “To fight against this lack of understanding, against a whole world of non-understanding, was impossible.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers, is contained in the dog. If one could but realize this knowledge, if one could but bring it into the light of day, if we dogs would but own that we know infinitely more than we admit to ourselves!”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Ours is a lost generation, it may be, but it is more blameless than those earlier generations.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.”

  Franz Kafka (1883–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

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