Quotes by Franz Kafka

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Poetry is nothing but an expedition in search of truth.

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Every work of art is a document, a testimony.

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Writing is a kind of exorcism.

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To act on life, theater must be stronger, more intense than life.

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Truth is that which is necessary to every man's life: but no man can obtain or buy. Each man will have to create it deep in his life; otherwise it crashes. To live without truth is impossible. Perhaps the truth is life itself.

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The chains of tormented humanity are made of office paper.

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If I am condemned, I am condemned not only to die, but also to endure to the death.

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For a healthy person, life is, in fact, only an unconscious escape, in which he does not recognize himself - an escape from the thought that sooner or later he will die. The disease is both a reminder of death and a test of endurance. Therefore, illness, pain, suffering are the most important sources of religiosity.

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A thought not expressed immediately and definitively loses its meaning; the written thought also always loses its meaning, but sometimes acquires a new one instead.

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Shadows do not extinguish the sun.

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Everything, including lies, serves the truth.

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It's all in a moment. It determines life.

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Eternal youth is not possible; even if there were no other obstacles, self-observation would make it impossible.

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Life distracts us all the time, and we don't even manage to notice what it is distracting us from.

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Art always looks at the personality in its entirety. That is why art is tragic in its essence.

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When you shoot you have to look above the target.

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In order for the theater to act on life, it must be stronger, more intense than everyday life.

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What do I have in common with Jews? I have very little in common with myself.

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Happiness excludes old age. He who retains the ability to see the beautiful does not grow old.

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Coincidence exists only in our minds, in our limited perception. It is a reflection of our limits of knowledge. The fight against chance is always a fight against ourselves, a fight we can never win.

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He who has known all the fullness of life knows no fear of death. Fear of death is only a result of an unfulfilled life. It is an expression of infidelity towards her.

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History, this heroic homeland in time, no longer satisfies the Jews today: they have earned the right to a homeland in space.

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Being awake, we walk as if in sleep - some ghosts from past times.

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I loved a girl who loved me back, but I had to leave her. Why? I do not know. It was like being surrounded by a circle of armed men with their spears facing outwards. Whenever I approached, I bumped into the spear points, was wounded, and had to turn back. I suffered so much. Wasn't she at fault in this? I don't think so, I know. The analogy just now is not complete, I was also surrounded by armed men, who turned their spears inward, that is, against me. As soon as I approached the girl, I was first caught in the spears of my armed men, and I could not go any further. Perhaps I was never able to penetrate as far as the girl's armed men, and if I did, I was already bleeding from the thrusts of my spears, in a daze. Was she left alone? No, another man penetrated her, easily and unhindered. I myself, exhausted from my efforts, watched with such indifference as if I were the air through which their faces met in the first kiss.

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What bothers you? What is it that feeds your heart, this persistent one? What pulls on your door handle? What calls you from the street, but never comes through your open gate? Oh, this is the one you bother, whose heart you tease, whose door handle you pull, who you call from the street, but you never enter his open gate.

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On the handle of Balzac's walking stick: I will break all obstacles. For mine: I am broken by all obstacles. "Everything" is common.

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Everyone has their own gnawing, night-consuming devil, and this fact is neither bad nor good, but this is life: if we didn't have this devil, we wouldn't even live.

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There is only a goal, no path. What we call the way is hesitation.

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I think we should only read books that snarl and squirm. If the book you read doesn't do something good to wake you up, why pick it up at all?

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We cannot take the money we earn to the grave, but we can take the wasted time.

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Sending innocent roses after evil words is a pathetic attempt!

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The incessant desire for death and clinging to life - that's just love.

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He who fully understands life is not afraid of death; fear comes from an unfulfilled life.

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I intensively absorbed all the negative elements of the age in which I lived.

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Although logic is unshakable, it cannot resist those who want to live.

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All human errors are impatience, a premature interruption of method.

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Love is as unproblematic as a vehicle. The only question is: who is driving it, who is traveling and where the road is taking you.

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Love is as much a gift of life as beauty.

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Our task is just as big as our life - that's why it seems endless.

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One can never be satisfied with knowing what is good and what is bad. You must also seek to be acted upon.

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I'm here, I don't know anything else, I can't do anything else. My boat has no rudder, driven by the wind that blows in the deepest regions of death.

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From the real opponent, boundless courage moves into you.

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It is only our conception of time that allows us to speak of Judgment Day. In reality, we are facing a court-martial sitting without a break.

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A calm, calm consideration is worth much more than a desperate decision.

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We only lie a little if we lie as little as possible, not if we have the least possible opportunity.

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The spirit will be free when it no longer seeks support.

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Every relationship has its weaknesses, including ours, since we both came together from different worlds, and since we've known each other, both of our lives have taken a completely new path, for now we still feel insecure, because everything is still too new. I'm not talking about myself, I'm not the important thing, since I've only been receiving gifts since you first laid eyes on me, and it's not hard to get used to receiving gifts.

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There are occasions which, so to speak, are too important to be taken advantage of; there are things that are shipwrecked on nothing else, only on ourselves.

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The more horses you catch, the sooner you succeed - even if you don't tear the stone block from the foundations, it's impossible, but if you tear the straps, you can, and that's how the unencumbered, happy journey is.

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Vanity drives away the soul, that is, it should actually be a death blow - to oneself; but no, he only inflicts wounds on himself, so he becomes "injured vanity".

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Only those who are biased are capable of real judgment, but because they are biased, they cannot judge. Accordingly, there is no way on earth to judge; here only the reflection of the possibility of judgment shines.

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Evil knows good, but good does not know evil.

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There are countless shelters, only one escape; however, there are only as many chances to escape as there are shelters.

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What joy can the world offer but to escape to it?

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You are the task. And nowhere is his son a student.

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If a sword is plunged into your heart, the main thing is to face it calmly, not to lose blood, to accept the coldness of the iron as hard as stone. To become invulnerable after the punch, by the punch.

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It is impossible to defend yourself if you lack goodwill.

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You believe those who think you're a fool, but not those who want good for you.

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The true path is a rope course that is stretched not high up, but just above the ground. Apparently, it was not even intended for us to walk on, rather to stumble on it.

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Man's two main sins: impatience and carelessness, everything else stems from them. He was driven out of paradise because of his impatience, and he will not return there because of his negligence. But perhaps the biggest sin is: impatience. We were expelled for our impatience, we cannot return because of our impatience.

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Evil does surprising things. Suddenly he turns around, saying: "You misunderstood me" - and maybe you really did. The evil takes hold and moves into your lips, you can even bite it, and here it is: this new mouth, which fits your teeth more obediently than ever before, says the good word - you yourself are amazed at it.

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Know yourself - this does not mean: Observe yourself. Observe yourself - this is the call of the snake. Rather, it means: Make yourself the master of your actions. But now you are: master of your actions. The word therefore means: Misrecognize yourself! Crush yourself! - that is, it means something bad - only if you bend down very deeply, you will hear the good in it as well, which sounds like this: "So that you can be who you are!"

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I hid my mind in my fist; since then, I walk happily, with my head held high, I just hang my hand tiredly, the weight of my mind pulls it down. You see, this small case of hard skin, interwoven with veins, furrowed with wrinkles, swelling veins, and closed with five fingers, is now the case of my mind; but it's good that I could escape here, where no one suspects! And having two hands is an invaluable advantage. I can ask anyone: in which hand is my mind; he won't figure it out, because if I clasp my hands, hip-hop, I've already slipped my mind from one grip to the other.

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Every man is faced with two questions of faith here; first, whether it is worth believing in life, secondly, whether it is worth believing in the purpose of life. Everyone answers both questions with such a firm and unhesitating "yes" just because of the simple fact that they are alive, that they can immediately begin to doubt whether they understood the question correctly. It takes so much of his certain, bitter work before he gets back to the point where he can internally say yes to everything, because if he digs deeper into himself, he is rushed by questions to which only confusing and evasive answers are given.

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Man does nothing here but create a spiritual life opportunity for himself; although it seems as if he works to have food, clothing, and so on, but this is incidental, since with each visible morsel he receives another invisible one, with each visible garment an invisible garment, and so on. This is the proof of all human existence. It seems as if he creates a basis for his existence with subsequent confirmations, but this is only a psychological reflection, his life is actually based on the confirmations he received. Of course, everyone must be able to justify their life (or death, which is becoming more and more common), there is no escaping this. We see every man living his life (or dying his death). This wouldn't work without internal verification either, no one can live an unverified life. By underestimating people from this, it can be concluded that everyone tries to base their lives on proofs.

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He who cares only for the future is not as careful as he who cares only for the moment, because he never cares for the moment, only for its duration.

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Sin is always openly approaching, it can be grasped immediately through the senses. It penetrates to the root of the senses, and we cannot tear it out.

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To live is to be at the center of life; I look at life with the eyes I created.

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What we experience is always experienced before or after the real event, which seems to pass away with elementary and incomprehensible speed; our experiences are all dream-like, only figments of imagination limited to our narrow personality.

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Life is a constant distraction, so we don't even realize what it's distracting us from.

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You have to break through the wall with your head. This wall is easy to break through, as it is made of thin paper. However, it is all the more difficult not to let yourself be fooled by the fact that on paper there is already a deceptively faithful image of the moment you break through the wall. It's a great temptation to say, "Aren't I breaking through all the time?"

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I fight; Nobody knows; some guess it is inevitable; but no one knows. I do my daily duties, I'm a little distracted, that's for sure, but not a lot. Of course, everyone fights, but my fight is more real than others, most of them fight like sleepwalkers, as we chase dream ghosts, but I have stepped out of line and I fight with all the strength at my disposal, judiciously and carefully. Why did I stand out from the otherwise noisy, but from this point of view, frighteningly quiet crowd? Why did I attract attention? Why have I now become the number one target in the eyes of the enemy? I do not know. I felt that any other kind of life did not deserve the name of life.

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Many deny woes by pointing to the sun, he denies the sun by pointing to woes.

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The correct interpretation of something and the misunderstanding of the same thing are not completely mutually exclusive.

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You don't have to leave your room. Stay at your desk and listen! You don't even have to listen, just wait. You don't even have to wait, just learn to be quiet, calm/still, alone. The world offers itself freely to be exposed. You have no choice.

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From a certain point there is no going back. This is the point we need to reach.

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The old trick: we cling to the world and complain that it won't let go.

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Freedom and constraint are essentially the same thing. How essentially? Not in the same way that a slave can no longer lose his freedom, that is, in some ways, he is freer than the free.

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The two tasks of the beginning of life: make your circle ever narrower, and always check if you are not hiding somewhere outside your circle.

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Three things... see yourself as a stranger, forget the sight, keep the look. Or only two, because the third contains the second.

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Help the world fight the world.

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Everything is fraud: if we strive for the minimum in deception, if we follow the average, if we try for the maximum. In the first case, we take the good for granted, because this would make it much easier for us to achieve it; and evil too, because we impose too unfavorable fighting conditions for him. In the second case, we get the good stuff; because in this way we do not even strive for it during our earthly life. In the third case, we take the good for granted, because we distance ourselves from it as far as we can; evil too, because we trust that if we increase it to the extreme, we can take its power. According to this, we should choose the middle way, because we always deceive the good, but in this case, at least apparently, not the evil.

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A man can only say that he almost never lies, if he really almost never lies; not if you almost never have an opportunity to lie.

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He who renounces the world can already love all people, because he renounces the world of all of them. That is why he begins to guess what a person's true being is like, and this can only be done with love, provided that the person is his equal.

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He who seeks will not find; but those who do not seek will be found.

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Real knowledge: a series of falls, each time followed by a childishly happy recovery.

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In theory, the possibility of perfect happiness exists: by believing in the indestructible within us, but not trying to get close to it.

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After the expulsion, Adam's first pet was the snake.

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A good conscience is nothing but evil victorious over us; he no longer feels the need to cheat.

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When the privileged person excuses the oppressed by saying that he too has serious problems, he is in trouble precisely because of how he can maintain his privileged position.

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Measure yourself against humanity. He who doubts, this makes him more doubtful, he who believes, pours faith into it.

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The knowledge is already ours. Anyone who tries very hard to get it is suspicious, because it is as if they are trying to get rid of it.

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To believe in progress is not to believe that we have ever progressed. This is not faith.