Quotessence
Home / Authors / Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsLiteratureWorldLettersKafkaLoveWritingMenPeopleWayDoeLifeFranz KafkaKnowsThinkingI CanKafkaesqueLetters To MilenaBookHumans

Famous Franz Kafka Quotes

“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.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsWantSaidCertainEffortCasesAdviceCourtAssumingLawyerUselessDisgustingAssistanceConsultation
Author:Franz Kafka
Create image

“Expulsion from Paradise is in its main aspect eternal: that is to say, although expulsion from Paradise is final, and life in theworld unavoidable, the eternity of the process (or, expressed in temporal terms, the eternal repetition of the process) nevertheless makes it possible not only that we might remain in Paradise permanently, but that we may in fact be there permanently, no matter whether we know it here or not.”

KnowsMayMatterFactsMightTimeProcessTermEternalAspectEternityFinalsParadiseNeverthelessRepetitionExpulsion
Book:Wedding preparations in the country: and other posthumous prose writings. With notes by Max Brod
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“I have no memory for things I have learned, nor things I have read, nor things experienced or heard, neither for people nor events; I feel that I have experienced nothing, learned nothing, that I actually know less than the average schoolboy, and that what I do know is superficial, and that every second question is beyond me. I am incapable of thinking deliberately; my thoughts run into a wall. I can grasp the essence of things in isolation, but I am quite incapable of coherent, unbroken thinking. I can't even tell a story properly; in fact, I can scarcely talk.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsFeelsI CanFactsStoriesRunningMemoriesHeardEventsWallEssenceAverageIsolationI Have LearnedIncapableSuperficialMy ThoughtsEvery SecondUnbrokenNo Memory
Author:Franz Kafka
Create image

“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.”

IfsKnowsLostCausesEffectsFrontsCalmSatObserversCastlesObservingDisturbedGazingObliviousLost In Thought
Book:The castle
Create image

“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.”

IfsThinkingKnowsFeelsLongHardFallGivenParentTalkingGoneLong TimeSittingHearingBossDesksLong Time AgoSubordinatesMetamorphosisSitting UpTalking Down
Book:Metamorphosis
Create image