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9c1a54d
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Many questions were troubling the explorer, but at the sight of the prisoner he asked only: "Does he know his sentence?" "No," said the officer, eager to go on with his exposition, but the explorer interrupted him: "He doesn't know the sentence that has been passed on him?" "No," said the officer again, pausing a moment as if to let the explorer elaborate his question, and then said: "There would be no point in telling him. He'll learn it o..
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Franz Kafka |
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41cbf69
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You do not need to accept everything as true, you only have to accept it as necessary.
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Franz Kafka |
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f457e32
|
I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? (...) We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.
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Franz Kafka |
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380950f
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The hardest bones, containing the richest marrow, can be conquered only by a united crushing of all the teeth of all dogs. That of course is only a figure of speech and exaggerated; if all teeth were but ready they would not need even to bite, the bones would crack themselves and the marrow would be freely accessible to the feeblest of dogs. If I remain faithful to this metaphor, then the goal of my aims, my questions, my inquiries, appears..
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philosophy
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Franz Kafka |
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b60463d
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The books were old and well worn, the cover of one of them had nearly broken through in its middle, and it was held together with a few threads. "Everything is so dirty here," said K., shaking his head, and before he could pick the books up the woman wiped some of the dust off with her apron. K. took hold of the book that lay on top and threw it open, an indecent picture appeared. A man and a woman sat naked on a sofa, the base intent of wh..
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Franz Kafka |
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165cfb9
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People who walk across dark bridges, past saints, with dim, small lights. Clouds which move across gray skies past churches with towers darkened in the dusk. One who leans against granite railing
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dim
dusk
inspire
lights
people
stones
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Franz Kafka |
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127e1dc
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Then birds flew up like a shower of sparks, I followed them with my eyes and saw how they rose in a single breath, until they seemed no longer to be rising but I to be falling...
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Franz Kafka |
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f5fcfd6
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Of course I'm ignorant, that remains true at all events and is extremely distressing for me, but it does have the advantage that the ignorant man dares more, so I shall gladly put up with ignorance and its undoubtedly dire consequences for a while, as long as my strength lasts.
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Franz Kafka |
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ee48b22
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Was he an animal if music could captivate him so? It seemed to him that he was being shown the way to the unknown nourishment he had been yearning for.
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Franz Kafka |
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236f636
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Other opportunities arise from time to time that almost don't accord with the overall situation, opportunities whereby a word, a glance, a sigh of trust may achieve more than a lifetime of exhausting endeavour.
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opportunities
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Franz Kafka |
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ae776e4
|
Devilish in my innocence.
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Franz Kafka |
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2e0bc0b
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When I meet a pretty girl and beg her: "Be so good as to come with me," and she walks past without a word, this is what she means to say: "You are no Duke with a famous name, no broad American with Red Indian figure, level, brooding eyes and a skin tempered by the air of the prairies and the rivers that flow through them, you have never journeyed to the seven seas and voyaged on them wherever they may be, I don't know where. So why, pray, s..
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Franz Kafka |
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7eff2b1
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He had always believed that his father had not been able to save a penny from the business, at least his father had never told him anything to the contrary, and Gregor, for his part, had never asked him any questions. In those days Gregor's sole concern had been to do everything in his power to make the family forget as quickly as possible the business disaster which had plunged everyone into a state of total despair. And so he had begun to..
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Franz Kafka |
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74f9d73
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A picture of my existence... would show a useless wooden stake covered in snow... stuck loosely at a slant in the ground in a ploughed field on the edge of a vast open plain on a dark winter night.
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Franz Kafka |
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b34cd61
|
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the ..
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Franz Kafka |
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fe1c803
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He slid back again into his earlier position. "This getting up early," he thought, "makes a man quite idiotic. A man must have his sleep. Other travelling salesmen live like harem women. For instance, when I come back to the inn during the course of the morning to write up the necessary orders, these gentlemen are just sitting down to breakfast. If I were to try that with my boss, I'd be thrown out on the spot. Still, who knows whether that..
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Franz Kafka |
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0a86090
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I read the letter once, put it aside, and read it again; I pick up a file but am really only reading your letter; I am with the typist, to whom I am supposed to dictate, and again your letter slowly slides through my fingers and I have begun to draw it out of my pocket when people ask me something and I know perfectly well I should not be thinking of your letter now, yet that thought is all that occurs to me--but after all that I am as hung..
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Franz Kafka |
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86a88a8
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He looked sadly down at the street, as though it were his own bottomless sadness.
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Franz Kafka |
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6510ef1
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lst 'qw~ `l~ Hml ldny fwq ktfy, wl 'n 'Html Ht~ thql m`Tfy fwqhm
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Franz Kafka |
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a1f369a
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It puzzled K., at least it puzzled him looking at it from the policemen's point of view, that they had made him go into the room and left him alone there, where he had ten different ways of killing himself. At the same time, though, he asked himself, this time looking at it from his own point of view, what reason he could have to do so. Because those two were sitting there in the next room and had taken his breakfast, perhaps?
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police
suicide
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Franz Kafka |
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3bdc5ee
|
It occurs to me that I really can't remember your face in any precise detail. Only the way you walked away through the tables in the cafe, your figure, your dress, that I still see.
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face
figure
longing
love
remember
walked-away
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Franz Kafka |
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92b71d1
|
Anyway, it's best not to think about them, as if you do it makes the discussions with the other lawyers, all their advice and all that they do manage to achieve, seem so unpleasant and useless, I had that experience myself, just wanted to throw everything away and lay at home in bed and hear nothing more about it. But that, of course, would be the stupidest thing you could do, and you wouldn't be left in peace in bed for very long either.
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Franz Kafka |
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908e80d
|
fhl ywjd y mylyn, thm@ mkn fy hdhh ldny ys`h 'n yTyq m`y Sbran
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Franz Kafka |
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2ad51f4
|
w l shk n by'n lwlyn `ndm khT'w , lm ykwnw qd twhmw `ly lGlb dny whm bn khTy'hm dhk kn khT' l nhyh lh . flqd kn m yzl fy ws`hm n yrw blf`l mftrq lTrq . w lqd kn shl Zn ytrj`w mty shw'w dhlk . f'dh knw trddw fy ltrj` . flqd kn dhlk fqT l'nhm rGbw fy n ytmt`w bHyh lklb lftrh qSyrh khry .n Hythm lm tkn b`d qd SbHt Hyh lklb lHqyqyh . l nh bdt fy `ynhm wqth Hyh jmylh jmylh sHrh lSwrh fmdh ymknh n tkwn Gyr dhlk nhm lm ydrkw m ldhy ys`n n nZnh ln..
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Franz Kafka |
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9d3ae8d
|
I passed by the brothel as though past the house of a beloved.
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Franz Kafka |
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917bbf7
|
Thin, without fever, not cold, not warm, with empty eyes, without a shirt, the young man under the stuffed quilt heaves himself up, hangs around my throat and whispers in my ear, "Doctor, let me die."
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Franz Kafka |
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a0164e9
|
If he stayed at home and carried on with his normal life he would be a thousand times superior to these people and could get any of them out of his way just with a kick.
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Franz Kafka |
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47b34cb
|
It seemed to K. as if at last those people had broken off all relations with him, and as if now in reality he were freer than he had ever been, and at liberty to wait here in this place usually forbidden to him as long as he desired, and had won a freedom such as hardly anybody else had ever succeeded in winning, and as if nobody could dare touch him or drive him away, or even speak to him, but -- this conviction was at least equally as str..
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Franz Kafka |
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f246178
|
It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards.
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Franz Kafka |
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5e64ac4
|
Life is astonishingly short. As I look back over it, life seems so foreshortened to me that I can hardly understand, for instance, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village without being afraid that, quite apart from accidents, even the span of a normal life that passes happily may be totally insufficient for such a ride.
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Franz Kafka |
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8a212b8
|
But perhaps the enthusiastic sensibility of young women of her age also played a role. This feeling sought release at every opportunity, and with it Grete now felt tempted to want to make Gregor's situation even more terrifying, so that then she would be able to do even more for him than now.
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young-women
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Franz Kafka |
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dcd81aa
|
I am so miserable, there are so many questions, I can see no way out and am so wretched and feeble that I could lie forever on the sofa and keep opening and closing my eyes without knowing the difference.
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forever
miserable
questions
wretched
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Franz Kafka |
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c854050
|
A man might find for a moment that he was unable to work, but that's exactly the right time to remember his past accomplishments and to consider that later on, when the obstacles has been removed, he's bound to work all the harder and more efficiently.
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Franz Kafka |
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28443f0
|
I was heading for the city in the south, of which they used to say in our village: 'There are people for you! Just think--they never go to sleep!' 'And why don't they?' 'Because they're fools.' 'Don't fools get tired, then?' 'How could fools get tired?
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Franz Kafka |
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c1c933d
|
But sometimes I really felt as though the starry sky rose and fell with the gasping of his chest.
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Franz Kafka |
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e9758a1
|
Gece gunduz, uykuda olsun, uyanik olsun, vucuduna saplanmis bir oku tasimak demek. Cekilir sey degil bu.
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Franz Kafka |
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5332ae5
|
Rolling country, not yet quite mountainous, with woods and lakes, is what I like best.
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Franz Kafka |
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01a3381
|
'n `ndm 'tHdth lyk 'nsy kl shy Ht~ 'nt
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Franz Kafka |
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1e0a134
|
You can withdraw from the sufferings of the world -- that possibility is open to you and accords with your nature -- but perhaps that withdrawal is the only suffering you might be able to avoid.
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Franz Kafka |
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80eb241
|
If you come to me you will be leaping into the abyss.
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Franz Kafka |
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3a2bda6
|
His growing lack of concern for the others hardly surprised him, whereas previously he had prided himself on being considerate.
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Franz Kafka |
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7fe941a
|
Don't concern yourself about anybody. Just do what you think is right.
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Franz Kafka |
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f5073a6
|
Away in the distance, a train appeared behind the trees, all its compartments were lit, the windows were sure to be open. One of us started singing a ballad, but we all wanted to sing. We sang far quicker than the speed of the train, we swung our arms because our voices weren't enough, our voices got into a tangle where we felt happy. If you mix your voice with others' voices, you feel as though you're caught on a hook. (trans. Michael Hofm..
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Franz Kafka |
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b92b62a
|
He] used to be so insignificant that one literally felt alone in his presence.
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Franz Kafka |