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1cb8410
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It is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary
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Franz Kafka |
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bffbb2c
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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...
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Franz Kafka |
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bb14ef2
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I see, these books are probably law books, and it is an essential part of the justice dispensed here that you should be condemned not only in innocence but also in ignorance.
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injustice
the-trial
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Franz Kafka |
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8b1b4ca
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And I leave my post of observation and find I have had enough of this outside life; I feel that there is nothing more that I can learn here, either now or at any time. And I long to say a last goodbye to everything up here, to go down into my burrow never to return again, let things take their course, and not try to retard them with my profitless vigils.
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Franz Kafka |
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02d66c1
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There is a destination but no way there; what we refer to as way is hesitation.
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Franz Kafka |
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a177fad
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Many complain that the words of the wise are always merely parables and of no use in daily life, which is the only life we have. When the sage says: "Go over," he does not mean that we should cross over to some actual place, which we could do anyhow if the labor were worth it; he means some fabulous yonder, something unknown to us, something too that he cannot designate more precisely, and therefore cannot help us here in the very least. Al..
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Franz Kafka |
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58cdbbb
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But Gregor understood easily that it was not only consideration for him which prevented their moving, for he could easily have been transported in a suitable crate with a few air holes; what mainly prevented the family from moving was their complete hopelessness and the thought that they had been struck by a misfortune as none of their relatives and acquaintances had ever been hit.
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Franz Kafka |
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3a6e5b3
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it is, after all, not necessary to fly right into the middle of the sun, but it is necessary to crawl to a clean little spot on Earth where the sun sometimes shines and one can warm oneself a little.
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Franz Kafka |
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46896b6
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One must fight to get to the top, especially if one starts at the bottom.
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Franz Kafka |
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9815c0c
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They did not know what we can now sense as we contemplate the course of history: that change begins in the soul before it shows in our lives...
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Franz Kafka |
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dd4b25a
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There sat I, a faded being, under faded leaves.
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Franz Kafka |
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a08da66
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I'm on such a dangerous road, Milena. You're standing firmly near a tree, young, beautiful, your eyes subduing with their radiance the suffering world.
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Franz Kafka |
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93e959b
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Art flies around truth, but with the definite intention of not getting burnt. Its capacity lies in finding in the dark void a place where the beam of light can be intensely caught, without this having been perceptible before.
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Franz Kafka |
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3107adb
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Don't you want to join us?" I was recently asked by an acquaintance when he ran across me alone after midnight in a coffeehouse that was already almost deserted. "No, I don't," I said."
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Franz Kafka |
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a138b0a
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You will get to know me better; there are still a number of horrible recesses in me that you don't know.
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Franz Kafka |
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98300c8
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Like a Dog!
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Franz Kafka |
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f83d938
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Like tired dogs they stand there,
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Franz Kafka |
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8214b53
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The man in ecstasy and the man drowning--both throw up their arms.
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Franz Kafka |
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2d9d845
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My job is unbearable to me because it conflicts with my only desire and my only calling, which is literature. Since I am nothing but literature and can and want to be nothing else, my job will never take possession of me, it may, however, shatter me completely, and this is by no means a remote possibility.
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Franz Kafka |
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7bb773a
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Like a dog!" he said, it was as if the shame of it should outlive him."
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Franz Kafka |
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9113f81
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One must lie low, no matter how much it went against the grain, and try to understand that this great organization remained, so to speak, in a state of delicate balance, and that if someone took it upon himself to alter the dispositions of things around him, he ran the risk of losing his footing and falling to destruction, while the organization would simply right itself by some compensating reaction in another part of its machinery - since..
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Franz Kafka |
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88cd9be
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The door could not be heard slamming; they had probably left it open, as is the custom in homes where a great misfortune has occurred.
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inspirational
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Franz Kafka |
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e57c9a7
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Since I met you, I've felt abandoned without your nearness; your nearness is all I ever dream of, the only thing.
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Franz Kafka |
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f78db64
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There can be no more beautiful spot to die in, no spot more worthy of total despair, than one's own novel.
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Franz Kafka |
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9f706b1
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The fact that no one knows where I am is my only happiness. If only I could prolong this forever! It would be far more just than death. I am empty and futile in every corner of my being, even in my unhappiness.
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Franz Kafka |
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5bd5fde
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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..
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Franz Kafka |
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c84fdd2
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I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?
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words
literature
reading
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Franz Kafka |
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792efe1
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Before the Law stands a doorkeeper on guard. To this doorkeeper there comes a man from the country who begs for admittance to the Law. But the doorkeeper says that he cannot admit the man at the moment. The man, on reflection, asks if he will be allowed, then, to enter later. 'It is possible,' answers the doorkeeper, 'but not at this moment.' Since the door leading into the Law stands open as usual and the doorkeeper steps to one side, the ..
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Franz Kafka |
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97cfeee
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Don't despair, not even over the fact that you don't despair. Just when everything seems over with, new forces come marching up, and precisely that means that you are alive. And if they don't, then everything is over with here, once and for all.
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Franz Kafka |
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d2452f9
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My grandfather used to say: Life is astoundingly short. To me, looking back over it, life seems so foreshortened that I scarcely understand, for instance, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village without being afraid that -not to mention accidents- even the span of a normal happy life may fall far short of the time needed for such a journey.
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Franz Kafka |
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578fbd8
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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.
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Franz Kafka |
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a5a5b81
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Our winters are very long here, very long and very monotonous. But we don't complain about it downstairs, we're shielded against the winter. Oh, spring does come eventually, and summer, and they last for a while, but now, looking back, spring and summer seem too short, as if they were not much more than a couple of days, and even on those days, no matter how lovely the day, it still snows occasionally.
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seasons
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Franz Kafka |
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2105dbe
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ktb@ lrsy'l .. t`ny 'n t`ry nfska 'mm l'shbH , w hw shy lTlm knw yntZrwnh bfrG lSbr. ktb@ lqubl fyh l y`ny 'nh stSl l~ mknh lmqSwd , bynm `l~ l`ks , ytkhTfh l'shbH `l~ Twl lTryq." (kfk l~ mylyn)"
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Franz Kafka |
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4d19434
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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.
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metamorphosis
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Franz Kafka |
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91f2ec0
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Lost among these entirely strange people.
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Franz Kafka |
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633b142
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It isn't easy to understand exactly what she is saying, for one doesn't know whether she is speaking ironically or seriously, it's mostly serious, but sounds ironic. - "Stop interpreting everything!" said K."
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Franz Kafka |
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a41fbf6
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Illusions are more common than changes in fortune
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Franz Kafka |
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9df62ca
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In a way, I was safe writing
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writing
way
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Franz Kafka |
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bbd60b0
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Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Traumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt.
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Franz Kafka |
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c28a773
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It is as if a person were a prisoner, and he had not only the intention to escape, which would perhaps be attainable, but also, and indeed simultaneously, the intention to rebuild the prison as a pleasure dome for himself. But if he escapes, he cannot rebuild, and if he rebuilds, he cannot escape.
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Franz Kafka |
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0f32dee
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The main thing, when a sword cuts into one's soul, is to keep a calm gaze, lose no blood, accept the coldness of the sword with the coldness of a stone. By means of the stab, after the stab, become invulnerable.
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Franz Kafka |
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f9cb8ab
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But I will write in spite of everything, absolutely; it is my struggle for self-preservation.
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Franz Kafka |
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69b61f0
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But when I want to draw close to someone, and fully commit myself, then my misery is assured. Then I am nothing, and what can I do with nothingness? I must admit that your letter this morning (by the afternoon it had changed) arrived at just the right moment; I was in need of those very words.
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Franz Kafka |
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00c9ed4
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His biggest misgiving came from his concern about the loud crash that was bound to occur and would probably create, if not terror, at least anxiety behind all the doors. But that would have to be risked.
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Franz Kafka |