Franz Kafka Short Quotes

25 Sourced Quotes

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It's often safer to be in chains than to be free.

Franz Kafka
Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty.

Franz Kafka
He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn't yet lived.

Franz Kafka
My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted.

Franz Kafka
Plenty of hope, an infinite amount of hope—but not for us.

Franz Kafka
A belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.

Franz Kafka
One must not cheat anyone, not even the world of its victory.

Franz Kafka
Don't despair, not even over the fact that you don't despair.

Franz Kafka
You are at once both the quiet and the confusion of my heart.

Franz Kafka
Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.

Franz Kafka
A first sign of the beginning of knowledge is the wish to die.

Franz Kafka
In this love you are like a knife, with which I explore myself.

Franz Kafka
I passed by the brothel as though
past the house of a beloved.

Franz Kafka
Now at last I can look at you in peace, I don't eat you anymore.
Comment to a fish, after becoming a vegetarian

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
Going to pieces. To go to pieces so pointlessly and unnecessarily.

Franz Kafka
I think you should only read those books which bite and sting you.

Franz Kafka
Plenty of hope—for God—an abundance of hope—only not for us.

Franz Kafka
There is a goal but no way; what we call the way is mere wavering.

Franz Kafka
He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.

Franz Kafka
From the true antagonist illimitable courage is transmitted to you.

Franz Kafka
Some books seem like a key to unfamiliar rooms in one's own castle.

Franz Kafka
I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

Franz Kafka
"Like a dog!" he said, it was as if the shame of it should outlive him.

Franz Kafka
How can one take delight in the world unless one flees to it for refuge?

Franz Kafka
Beyond a certain point there is no return. This point has to be reached.

Franz Kafka
"Like a dog!" he said. It seemed as if his shame would live on after him.

Franz Kafka
One must fight to get to the top, especially if one starts at the bottom.

Franz Kafka
Here nothing is decided, but only here can the power of decision be tested.

Franz Kafka