How pathetically scanty my self-knowledge is compared with, say, my knowledge of my room. There is no such thing as observation of the inner world, as there is of the outer world. Franz Kafka More Quotes by Franz Kafka More Quotes From Franz Kafka So eager are our people to obliterate the present. Franz Kafka people Love has as few problems as a motor car. The only problems are the driver, the passengers, and the road. Franz Kafka passengers problem love 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. Franz Kafka unions individual common One day, a leopard stalked into the synagogue, roaring and lashing its tail. Three weeks later, it had become part of the liturgy. Franz Kafka roaring one-day three Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more. Franz Kafka vegetarianism compassion animal Alas," said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into." "You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up. Franz Kafka wall cat running A man of action forced into a state of thought is unhappy until he can get out of it. Franz Kafka unhappy action men The worries that are the burden of which the privileged person makes an excuse in dealing with the oppressed person are in fact the worries about preserving his privileged condition. Franz Kafka privilege worry facts One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die. This life appears unbearable, another unattainable. One is no longer ashamed of wanting to die; one asks to be moved from the old cell, which one hates, to a new one, which one willl only in time come to hate. In this there is also a residue of belief that during the move the master will chance to come along the corridor, look at the prisoner and say: "This man is not to be locked up again, He is to come with me. Franz Kafka hate men moving It is often safer to be in chains than to be free. Franz Kafka chains freedom literature It's impossible to defend oneself in the absence of goodwill Franz Kafka goodwill absence impossible If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read? So that it shall make us happy? Good God, we should also be happy if we had no books, and such books as make us happy we could, if need be, write ourselves. But what we must have are those books which come upon us like ill fortune, and distress us deeply, like the death of one we love better than ourselves; like suicide. A book must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us. Franz Kafka suicide happiness book Don Quixote's misfortune is not his imagination, but Sancho Panza. Franz Kafka misfortunes imagination There are two cardinal human sins out of which all others derive, deviate, and dissipate: impatience and lassitude (or perhaps nonchalance). On account of impatience they are driven out of paradise; on account of lassitude or nonchalance they do not return. Perhaps, however, only one main sense of sin is given: impatience. On account of impatience they are driven out, on account of impatience they do not turn back. Franz Kafka nonchalance paradise two What is written is merely the dregs of experience. Franz Kafka dregs written Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have. Franz Kafka disaster-preparedness needs One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer. Franz Kafka clarity suffering diaries As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. Franz Kafka bed dream morning Evil is whatever distracts. Franz Kafka madness literature evil The fact that our task is exactly commensurate with our life gives it the appearance of being infinite. Franz Kafka tasks literature giving
