Franz Kafka quotes

“I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.”

— Franz Kafka

“It is often safer to be in chains than to be free.”

— Franz Kafka

“By imposing too great a responsibility, or rather, all responsibility, on yourself, you crush yourself.”

— Franz Kafka

“We are separated from God on two sides; the Fall separates us from Him, the Tree of Life separates Him from us. ”

— Franz Kafka

“Religions get lost as people do. ”

— Franz Kafka

“There are only two things. Truth and lies. Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie. ”

— Franz Kafka

“Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.”

— Franz Kafka

“The experience of life consists of the experience which the spirit has of itself in matter and as matter, in mind and as mind, in emotion, as emotion, etc.”

— Franz Kafka

“No sooner said than done - so acts your man of worth. ”

— Franz Kafka

“In the fight between you and the world, back the world.”

— Franz Kafka

“My "fear" is my substance, and probably the best part of me.”

— Franz Kafka

“Don't despair, not even over the fact that you don't despair.”

— Franz Kafka

“How can one take delight in the world unless one flees to it for refuge? ”

— Franz Kafka

“If it had been possible to build the Tower of Babel without climbing it, it would have been permitted.”

— Franz Kafka

“If there is a transmigration of souls then I am not yet on the bottom rung. My life is a hesitation before birth. ”

— Franz Kafka

“The mediation by the serpent was necessary. Evil can seduce man, but cannot become man.”

— Franz Kafka

“Suffering is the positive element in this world, indeed it is the only link between this world and the positive.”

— Franz Kafka

“It is comforting to reflect that the disproportion of things in the world seems to be only arithmetical. ”

— Franz Kafka

“The thornbush is the old obstacle in the road. It must catch fire if you want to go further.”

— Franz Kafka

“He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.”

— Franz Kafka

“Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.”

— Franz Kafka

“In the struggle between yourself and the world second the world. ”

— Franz Kafka

“The history of mankind is the instant between two strides taken by a traveler. ”

— Franz Kafka

“One must not cheat anyone, not even the world of its victory.”

— Franz Kafka

“The fact that our task is exactly commensurate with our life gives it the appearance of being infinite.”

— Franz Kafka

“Test yourself on mankind. It is something that makes the doubter doubt, the believer believe.”

— Franz Kafka

“Writers speak stench.”

— Franz Kafka

“Heaven is dumb, echoing only the dumb. ”

— Franz Kafka

“One tells as few lies as possible only by telling as few lies as possible, and not by having the least possible opportunity to do so.”

— Franz Kafka

“The Bible is a sanctum; the world, sputum. ”

— Franz Kafka