Quotes from Franz Kafka

How many days have again gone silently by; today is 28 May. Have I not even the resolution to take this penholder, this piece of wood, in my hand every day? I really think I do not. I row, ride, swim, lie in the sun.

When dealing with myself I am powerless.

Adev?ratul motiv al temerilor mele – nu exist? ceva mai cumplit de spus ?i nici de auzit – este c? nu te voi putea poseda niciodat?.

I was ashamed of myself when I realized life was a costume party and I attended with my real face

I repeat: there was no attraction for me in imitating human beings; I imitated them because I needed a way out, and for no other reason.

I would never have named them in the first place as they are not the ones I hold responsible. It's the organization that's to blame, the high officials are the ones to blame.

What do I have in common with the Jews? I don't even have anything in common with myself.

He advertido, de pronto, que en realidad no recuerdo su rostro en detalle. Sólo creo ver aún su figura, su vestido, mientras usted se alejaba entre las mesas del café.

We are instructed to do the negative; the positive is already within us.

What are our lungs supposed to do? I shouted. Shouted: If they breathe fast they suffocate themselves from inner poisons; if they breathe slowly they suffocate from unbreathable air, from outraged things. But if they try to search for their own rhythm they perish from the mere search.

I always succeed in not being jealous but only sometimes in comprehending the pointlessness of jealousy.

The amount of quiet I need does not exist in the world, from which it follows that no one ought to need so much quiet.

Du kannst jemanden, der die Augen verbunden hat, noch so sehr aufmuntern, durch das Tuch zu starren, er wird doch niemals etwas sehen; erst wenn man ihm das Tuch abnimmt, kann er sehen.

All I did there, after all, was to bemoan what I could not bemoan upon your breast.

When one has lived for thirty years in this world and had to fight one's way through it, as I have had to do, one becomes hardened to surprises and doesn't take them too seriously.

When you stand in front of me and look at me, what do you know of the griefs that are in me and what do I know of yours? And if I were to cast myself down before you and weep and tell you, what more would you know about me than you know about Hell when someone tells you it is hot and dreadful? For that reason alone we human beings ought to stand before one another as reverently, as reflectively, as lovingly, as we would before the entrance to Hell.

I write to close my eyes.

An und für sich ist uns das Lachen immer nah; trotz allem Jammer unseres Lebens ist ein leises Lachen bei uns gewissermaßen immer zu Hause.

I was wise, if you like, because I was prepared for death at any moment, but not because I had taken care of everything that was given to me to do, rather because I had done none of it and could not even hope ever to do any of it.

Oh, God", he thought, "what a strenuous career it is that I've chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there's the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them. It can all go to Hell!

A false ring of the night bell, once answered — it can never be made right.

I am as I am, and that's all there is to it, I can hardly take a pair of scissors to myself, and cut out a different person...

Yetkin, ama ac? veren bir büyü ile buradas?n?z! Benim burada olduÄŸum gibi, daha da elle tutulur biçimde; ben neredeysem siz de oradas?n?z, benim olduÄŸum kadar, daha da belirli.

I sink into your eyes whenever I'm looking at you. and feel your eyes on me whenever I'm walking around the room and all the time I am aware, with a pride I can no longer contain, that I am living for you, that I am allowed to do so ......