Quotes from Franz Kafka

My dear parents," said the sister banging her hand on the table by way of an introduction, "things cannot go on any longer in this way. Maybe if you don't understand that, well, I do. I will not utter my brother's name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it. We have tried what is humanly possible to take care of it and to be patient. I believe that no one can criticize us in the slightest.

Wrap your coat, O sublime dream, around the child.

And there shouldn't be anything to stop you carrying on with your usual life.

Justice has to be motionless or else the scales will waver that and there is no possibility of a correct judgement

now I'm even losing my name - it was getting shorter and shorter all the time and is now: Yours

There were dark hours, of course, such as came to everybody, in which you thought you had achieved nothing at all, in which it seemed to you that only the cases predestined from the start to seucceed came to a good end, which they would have reached in any event without your help, while every one of the others was doomed to fail in spite of all your manœuvres, all your exertions, all the illusory little victories on which you plumes yourself.

Life is hard, the earth stubborn, science rich in knowledge but poor in practical results.

Sometimes she would hide her eyes behind her hands, and then no words could get through to her.

Leopards break into the temple and drink to the dregs what is in the sacrificial pitchers; this is repeated over and over again; finally it can be calculated in advance, and it becomes a part of the ceremony. (Leoparden brechen in den Tempel ein und saufen die Opferkrüge leer; das wiederholt sich immer wieder; schließlich kann man es vorausberechnen, und es wird ein Teil der Zeremonie.)

Non spaventarti se senti le mie labbra sul collo, non volevo baciarti, è soltanto amore impacciato.

In the struggle between yourself and the world second the world.

As happiness recedes into dreams, the passion ended where it began: in sleepness.

Caci pe cine ai uitat, poti sa-l cunosti din nou.

Teoricamente, só há uma possibilidade perfeita de felicidade: acreditar no indestrutível em si sem a ele aspirar.

When I say something it immediately and definitively loses its importance, when I write it down it always loses it too, but sometimes gains a new one.

There are possibilities for me, certainly, but under what stone do they lie?

He is a land surveyor, well, perhaps that is something, he has trained at something, but if there's nothing you can do with that training then it means nothing.

Es gibt zwei menschliche Hauptsünden, aus welchen sich alle andern ableiten: Ungeduld und Lässigkeit. Wegen der Ungeduld sind sie aus dem Paradiese vertrieben worden, wegen der Lässigkeit kehren sie nicht zurück. Vielleicht aber gibt es nur eine Hauptsünde: die Ungeduld. Wegen der Ungeduld sind sie vertrieben worden, wegen der Ungeduld kehren sie nicht zurück.

One morning Gregor Samsa found himself, in bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

Atata timp cat nu incetezi s urci, treptele nu se vOr termina; sub pasii tai care urca, ele se vOr inmulti la nesfarsit

Enlightenment comes to even the dimmest. It begins around the eyes, and it spreads outward from there- a sight that might tempt one to lie down under the harrow oneself.

Writing is a sweet, wonderful reward…

Não temos juventude, ficamos logo adultos, e continuamos então adultos por um tempo demasiadamente longo, vêm daí um certo cansaço e uma certa desesperança que atravessa com um vinco largo a essência no conjunto tão tenaz e cheia de esperança do nosso povo

Das Negative zu tun, ist uns noch auferlegt, das Positive ist uns schon gegeben.