Franz Kafka quotes - page 12

We too must suffer all the suffering around us. We all have not one body, but we have one way of growing, and this leads us through all anguish, whether in this or in that form. Just as the child develops through all the stages of life right into old age and to death (and fundamentally to the earlier stage the later one seems out of reach, in relation both to desire and to fear), so also do we develop (no less deeply bound up with mankind than with ourselves) through all the sufferings of this world. There is no room for justice in this context, but neither is there any room either for fear of suffering or for the interpretation of suffering as a merit. (Franz Kafka)
The decisive moment in human evolution is perpetual. View quote
Franz Kafka
Yet perhaps there is only one major sin: impatience. Because of impatience they were expelled, because of impatience they do not return. View quote
Franz Kafka
Man cannot live without a permanent trust in something indestructible in himself, though both the indestructible element and the trust may remain permanently hidden from him. View quote
Franz Kafka
I only fear danger where I want to fear it. View quote
Franz Kafka
Do you know, darling? When you became involved with others you quite possibly stepped down a level or two, but If you become involved with me, you will be throwing yourself into the abyss. View quote
Franz Kafka
You are the knife I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love. View quote
Franz Kafka
Self-control is something for which I do not strive. Self-control means wanting to be effective at some random point in the infinite radiations of my spiritual existence. View quote
Franz Kafka
The true way is along a rope that is not spanned high in the air, but only just above the ground. It seems intended more to cause stumbling than to be walked upon. View quote
Franz Kafka
I am not well. I could have built the Pyramids with the effort it takes me to cling on to life and reason. View quote
Franz Kafka
the blend of absurd, surreal and mundane which gave rise to the adjective "kafkaesque. (Franz Kafka)
You are at once both the quiet and the confusion of my heart; imagine my heartbeat when you are in this state. View quote
Franz Kafka
We are as forlorn as children lost in the woods. 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? View quote
Franz Kafka
If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come. This is the essence of magic, which does not create but summons. View quote
Franz Kafka
Evil is a radiation of the human consciousness in certain transitional positions. View quote
Franz Kafka
The way is infinitely long, nothing of it can be subtracted, nothing can be added, and yet everyone applies his own childish yardstick to it. View quote
Franz Kafka
I make of my reproach and laughter a drumbeat sounding in the world beyond. View quote
Franz Kafka
I can prove at any time that my education tried to make another person out of me than the one I became. View quote
Franz Kafka
The first worship of idols was certainly fear of the things in the world, but, connected with this, fear of the necessity of the things, and, connected with this, fear of responsibility for the things. View quote
Franz Kafka
If you only followed the parables you yourselves would become parables and with that rid of all your daily cares. View quote
Franz Kafka
What a fate: to be condemned to work for a firm where the slightest negligence at once gave rise to the gravest suspicion! (Franz Kafka)
Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made. That is not the sort of belief that indicates real faith. View quote
Franz Kafka
I am dirty, Milena, endlessly dirty, that is why I make such a fuss about cleanliness. None sing as purely as those in deepest hell; it is their singing we take for the singing of angels. View quote
Franz Kafka
It certainly was not my intention to make you suffer, yet i have done so; obviously it never will be my intention to make you suffer, yet I shall always do so. View quote
Franz Kafka
Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning. View quote
Franz Kafka