You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.
FRANZ KAFKAYou can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.
FRANZ KAFKAPlease — consider me a dream.
FRANZ KAFKAWriting is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.
FRANZ KAFKAIt 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.
FRANZ KAFKAThe person I am in the company of my sisters has been entirely different from the person I am in the company of other people. Fearless, powerful, surprising, moved as I otherwise am only when I write.
FRANZ KAFKANothing unites two people so completely, especially if, like you and me, all they have is words.
FRANZ KAFKAShould I be grateful or should I curse the fact that despite all misfortune I can still feel love, an unearthly love but still for earthly objects.
FRANZ KAFKAThey say ignorance is bliss, they’re wrong
FRANZ KAFKAMany a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.
FRANZ KAFKAAll I am is literature, and I am not able or willing to be anything else.
FRANZ KAFKAWhat am I doing here in this endless winter?
FRANZ KAFKAI am free and that is why I am lost.
FRANZ KAFKAI am in chains. Don’t touch my chains.
FRANZ KAFKAI think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.
FRANZ KAFKABooks are a narcotic.
FRANZ KAFKAMay I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air.
FRANZ KAFKA