Franz Kafka Quotes

I do not read advertisements. I would spend all of my time wanting things.

In a certain sense the Good is comfortless.

The fact that our task is exactly commensurate with our life gives it the appearance of being infinite.

The history of mankind is the instant between two strides taken by a traveler.

The Bible is a sanctum; the world, sputum.

The spirit becomes free only when it ceases to be a support.

Tyranny or slavery, born of selfishness, are the two educational methods of parents; all gradations of tyranny or slavery.

We are sinful not only because we have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, but also because we have not yet eaten of the Tree of Life. The state in which we are is sinful, irrespective of guilt.

Martyrs do not underrate the body, they allow it to be elevated on the cross. In this they are at one with their antagonists.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

The thornbush is the old obstacle in the road. It must catch fire if you want to go further.

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.

So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.

We are separated from God on two sides; the Fall separates us from Him, the Tree of Life separates Him from us.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.

There are only two things. Truth and lies. Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie.

If there is a transmigration of souls then I am not yet on the bottom rung. My life is a hesitation before birth.

The experience of life consists of the experience which the spirit has of itself in matter and as matter, in mind and as mind, in emotion, as emotion, etc.

Sensual love deceives one as to the nature of heavenly love; it could not do so alone, but since it unconsciously has the element of heavenly love within it, it can do so.

In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.

One tells as few lies as possible only by telling as few lies as possible, and not by having the least possible opportunity to do so.

Let me remind you of the old maxim: people under suspicion are better moving than at rest, since at rest they may be sitting in the balance without knowing it, being weighed together with their sins.

No sooner said than done – so acts your man of worth.

It is comforting to reflect that the disproportion of things in the world seems to be only arithmetical.

A stair not worn hollow by footsteps is, regarded from its own point of view, only a boring something made of wood.

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.

The relationship to one’s fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving; it is from prayer that one draws the strength for one’s striving.

We all have wings, but they have not been of any avail to us and if we could tear them off, we would do so.

Suffering is the positive element in this world, indeed it is the only link between this world and the positive.

Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.

God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.

The mediation by the serpent was necessary. Evil can seduce man, but cannot become man.

A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.

Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it.

Self-control means wanting to be effective at some random point in the infinite radiations of my spiritual existence.

Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.

By imposing too great a responsibility, or rather, all responsibility, on yourself, you crush yourself.

Evil is whatever distracts.

I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

It is often safer to be in chains than to be free.

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.

In the fight between you and the world, back the world.

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.

My ‚fear‘ is my substance, and probably the best part of me.

Dread of night. Dread of not-night.

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.

My peers, lately, have found companionship through means of intoxication – it makes them sociable. I, however, cannot force myself to use drugs to cheat on my loneliness – it is all that I have – and when the drugs and alcohol dissipate, will be all that my peers have as well.

Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.

If I shall exist eternally, how shall I exist tomorrow?

May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air.

Writers speak stench.

Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.

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.

Hesitation before birth. If there is a transmigration of souls then I am not yet on the bottom rung. My life is a hesitation before birth.

How can one take delight in the world unless one flees to it for refuge?

The indestructible is one: it is each individual human being and, at the same time, it is common to all, hence the incomparably indivisible union that exists between human beings.

Test yourself on mankind. It is something that makes the doubter doubt, the believer believe.