Welcome to Translation Comparison!
Translation Comparison
Quote by Franz Kafka
English (Source)
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.