Quotes from Kafka, Franz

I am in chains. Don't touch my chains.

If this is what you came for, then I didn't send for you. Kafka (note to himself in journal)

It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet. 

Everyone strives to attain the Law,' answers the man, 'how does it come about, then, that in all these years no one has come seeking admittance but me?' The doorkeeper perceives that the man is nearing his end and his hearing is failing, so he bellows in his ear: 'No one but you could gain admittance through this door, since this door was intended for you. I am now going to shut it.

Human nature, essentially changeable, unstable as the dust, can endure no restraint; if it binds itself it soon begins to tear madly at its bonds, until it renders everything asunder, the wall, and the bonds and its very self.

Shoulder to shoulder, a coordinated movement of the people, their blood no longer confined in the limited circulation of the body but rolling sweetly and yet still returning through the infinite extent of China.

Writing letters...means to denude oneself before the ghosts, something for which they greedily wait. Written kisses don't reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts. [Kafka to Milena]

And who is it that gives you your strength? He who gives you your clear vision.

Unsichere Fragen und ungeeignetster Augenblick, sie zu stellen!

Dieses frühzeitiges Aufstehen macht einem ganz blödsinnig. Man muss sein Schlaf haben...

Von einem gewissen Punkt an gibt es keine Rückkehr mehr. Dieser Punkt ist zu erreichen Aphorism N. 5

La consciencia de mis capacidades literarias es, a última hora del día y por la mañana, inabarcable.

La hermana de Max, que está tan enamorada de su novio que intenta arreglárselas para hablar a solas con las visitas, pues cara a cara es más fácil explayarse sobre el amor y repetirse.

He had probably been thrown out of a wine shop, and it hadn't quite dawned on him yet.

Logica e de neclintit, dar aceasta nu-i rezista unui om care vrea sa traiasca.