Franz Kafka Quotes - Page 16

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

Franz Kafka

Literature, Body, Crosses

Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

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What a fate: to be condemned to work for a firm where the slightest negligence at once gave rise to the gravest suspicion! Were all the employees nothing but a bunch of scoundrels, was there not among them one single loyal devoted man who, had he wasted only an hour or so of the firm's time in the morning, was so tormented by conscience as to be driven out of his mind and actually incapable of leaving his bed?

Franz Kafka

Morning, Fate, Men

"The Metamorphosis". Book by Franz Kafka, 1915.

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It would be very unjust to say that you deserted me, but that I was deserted, and sometimes terribly so, is true.

Franz Kafka

Would Be, Unjust, Sometimes

Franz Kafka (1949). “The Diaries of Franz Kafka: 1914-1923. Tr. by Martin Greenberg, with the co-operation of Hannah Arendt”, Schocken

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And so gentlemen, I learned. Oh, if you have to learn, you learn; if you’re desperate for a way out, you learn; you learn pitilessly. You stand over yourself with a whip in your hand; if there’s the least resistance, you lash yourself.

Franz Kafka

Hands, Gentleman, Way

Franz Kafka (2008). “Metamorphosis and Other Stories”, Penguin Classics

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When K. looked at the castle, often it seemed to him as if he were observing someone who sat quietly there in front of him gazing, not lost in thought and so oblivious of everything, but free and untroubled, as if he were alone with nobody to observe him, and yet must notice that he was observed, and all the same remained with his calm not even slightly disturbed; and really - one did not know whether it was cause or effect - the gaze of the observer could not remain concentrated there, but slid away.

Franz Kafka

Castles, Gazing, Causes

Franz Kafka, Willa Muir (1974). “The castle”

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April 27. Incapable of living with people, of speaking. Complete immersion in myself, thinking of myself. Apathetic, witless, fearful. I have nothing to say to anyone - never.

Franz Kafka

Thinking, People, April

Franz Kafka “1914-1923. Tr. by Martin Greenberg, with the co-operation of Hannah Arendt”

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True undoubting is the teacher's part, continual undoubting the part of the pupil.

Franz Kafka

Teacher, Students, Pupils

Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

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Ours is a lost generation, it may be, but it is more blameless than those earlier generations.

Franz Kafka

Generations, May, Lost

"The Complete Stories". Book by Franz Kafka, "Investigations of a Dog", 1971.

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The observer of the soul cannot penetrate into the soul, but there doubtless is a margin where he comes into contact with it. Recognition of this contact is the fact that even the soul does not know of itself. Hence it must remain unknown. That would be sad only if there were anything apart from the soul, but there is nothing else.

Franz Kafka

Soul, Doe, Would Be

Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

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One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous bug.

Franz Kafka

Dream, Morning, Bugs

Franz Kafka (1946). “The Metamorphosis”, p.3, Gottfried & Fritz

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My life was sweeter than other people's and my death will be more terrible by the same degree.

Franz Kafka

People, Degrees, Terrible

Franz Kafka (2013). “Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors”, p.455, Schocken

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If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing.

Franz Kafka

Fall, Thinking, Talking

Franz Kafka, General Press (2016). “Metamorphosis”, p.8, GENERAL PRESS

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I am on the hunt for constructions. I come into a room and find them whitely merging in a corner.

Franz Kafka

Rooms, Construction, Hunts

Franz Kafka (1948). “The diaries of Franz Kafka”, Schocken

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That's how it will be, except that in reality, both today and later, one will stand there with a palpable body and a real head, a real forehead, that is, for smiting on with one's hand.

Franz Kafka

Marriage, Real, Hands

Franz Kafka (2009). “The Metamorphosis: And Other Stories”, p.30, Schocken

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This perversion of the truth, familiar to the artist though it was, always unnerved him afresh and proved too much for him. What was a consequence of the premature ending of his fast was here presented as the cause of it! To fight against this lack of understanding, against a whole world of nonunderstanding, was impossible.

Franz Kafka

Fighting, Artist, Understanding

Franz Kafka (1979). “The Basic Kafka”, p.85, Simon and Schuster

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As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

Franz Kafka

Dream, Morning, Bed

The Metamorphosis ch. 1 (1915) (translation byWilla and Edwin Muir)

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Anyone who renounces the world must love all men, for he renounces their world too. He thus begins to have some inkling of the true nature of man, which cannot but be loved, always assuming that one is its peer.

Franz Kafka

Men, History, Peers

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To every instant there is a correspondence in something outside time. This world here and now cannot be followed by a Beyond, for the Beyond is eternal, hence it cannot be in temporal contact with this world here and now.

Franz Kafka

World, Here And Now, Contact

Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

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Death confronts us not unlike the historical battle scene that hangs on the wall of the classroom. It is our task to obscure or quite obliterate the picture by our deeds while we are still in this world.

Franz Kafka

Death, Wall, Historical

Franz Kafka (1946). “The great wall of China: stories and reflections”

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Time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible, then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres.

Franz Kafka

Office, Trying, Horror

Franz Kafka (2013). “Letters to Felice”, p.21, Schocken

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The Expulsion from Paradise is eternal in its principal aspect: this makes it irrevocable, and our living in this world inevitable, but the eternal nature of the process has the effect that not only could we remain forever in Paradise, but that we are currently there, whether we know it or not.

Franz Kafka

Forever, World, Paradise

Franz Kafka (2015). “Aphorisms”, p.64, Schocken

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I don't know who the great lawyers are, and I presume you can't get to them. I know of no case where it can be said for certain that they took part. They defend some people, but you can't get them to do that through your own efforts, they only defend the ones they want to defend. But I assume a case they take on must have progressed beyond the lower court. It's better not to think of them at all, otherwise you'll find the consultations with the other lawyers, their advice and their assistance, extremely disgusting and useless.

Franz Kafka

Thinking, People, Effort

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The whole visible world is perhaps nothing more than the rationalization of a man who wants to find peace for a moment.

Franz Kafka

Men, World, Want

Franz Kafka (1979). “The Basic Kafka”, p.170, Simon and Schuster

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The Messiah will come only when he is no longer necessary, he will come only one day after his arrival, he will not come on the last day, but on the last day of all.

Franz Kafka

One Day, Redemption, Lasts

"The Third Notebook," 4 Dec. 1917 (translation by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins)

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The 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 Kafka

Powerful, Writing, People

Franz Kafka (1983). “Explain to me some stories of Kafka: complete texts with explanations”, Gordian Pr Inc

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Born: July 3, 1883
Died: June 3, 1924
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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