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Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka Quotes

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Famous Franz Kafka Quotes

“When one has once accepted and absorbed Evil, it no longer demands the unfitness of the means. The ulterior motives with which youabsorb and assimilate Evil are not your own but those of Evil.... Evil is whatever distracts. Evil knows of the Good, but Good does not know of Evil. Knowledge of oneself is something only Evil has. One means that Evil has is the dialogue.... One cannot pay Evil in installments--and one always keeps on trying to.”

KnowsTryingMeanDoeEvilPayDemandGoodnessOneselfAcceptedDialogueMotiveSeductionUlterior Motive
Author:Franz Kafka
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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.”

IfsKnowsDoeSoulFactsWould BeGoodnessContactRecognitionSeductionObserversPenetrateMargins
Book:The Blue Octavo Notebooks
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“I am too tired, I must try to rest and sleep, otherwise I am lost in every respect. What an effort to keep alive! Erecting a monument does not require an expenditure of so much strength.”

TryingDoeLostSleepEffortAliveTiredMonumentExpendituresRest And Sleep
Book:The Diaries of Franz Kafka: 1914-1923. Tr. by Martin Greenberg, with the co-operation of Hannah Arendt
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“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.”

MenYearsDoeEndsLawAnswersFailingDoorsGainsEarsStriveSeekingHearingPerceiveStrifeAdmittance
Book:The Trial
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“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.”

IfsNeedsShouldWritingDoeBookHappinessReadingLove IsBreakSeaSuicideFortuneIllAwakeningIceDistressFrozenFistsSkullsGood God
Author:Franz Kafka
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