Franz Kafka Quotes

August 2, 1914: Germany has declared war on Russia. Went swimming in the afternoon.

Aren’t our eyes made to be torn out, and our hearts for the same purpose? At the same time it’s really not that bad; that’s an exaggeration and a lie, everything is exaggeration, the only truth is longing, which cannot be exaggerated. But even the truth of longing is not so much its own truth; it’s really an expression of everything else, which is a lie. This sounds crazy and distorted, but it’s true. Moreover, perhaps it isn’t love when I say you are what I love the most — you are the knife I turn inside myself, this is love.

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

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.

My doubts stand in a circle around every word, I see them before I see the word, but what then! I do not see the word at all, I invent it.

You must not pay too much attention to opinions. The written word is unalterable, and opinions are often only an expression of despair.

In a way, I was safe writing

You wouldn't believe the kind of person I could become if you wanted it.

You will get to know me better; there are still a number of horrible recesses in me that you don’t know.

They're talking about things of which they don't have the slightest understanding, anyway. It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves.

If I could drown in sleep as I drown in fear I would be no longer alive.

He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning. He still saw that outside the window everything was beginning to grow light. Then, without his consent, his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath.

I have no literary interests; I am made of literature. I am nothing else and cannot be anything else.

All language is but a poor translation.

there is nothing bad to fear; once you have crossed that threshold, all is well. Another world, and you do not have to speak