Franz Kafka was a renowned German-speaking Bohemian writer. His works, primarily written in the early 20th century, explore themes of alienation, physical and psychological brutality, parent-child conflict, and mystical transformation. Kafka is best known for his novels “The Metamorphosis”, “The Trial”, and “The Castle”. His profound and thought-provoking quotes are often cited and revered. Here are 20 of his most popular quotes:
- “I am a cage, in search of a bird.”
- “My ‘fear’… is my substance, and probably the best part of me.”
- “An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet.”
- “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.”
- “A book should serve as the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
- “Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
- “By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it.”
- “All language is but a poor translation.”
- “I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us.”
- “The meaning of life is that it stops.”
- “In a struggle between yourself and the world, back the world.”
- “Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.”
- “Logic may indeed be unshakeable, but it cannot withstand a man who is determined to live.”
- “I write in order to affirm and reaffirm that I have absolutely nothing to say.”
- “The more closely the author thinks of why he wrote, the more he comes to regard his imagination as a kind of self-generating cement which glued his facts together, and his emotions as something which covered his idea with sputter and fuzz.”
- “It’s often safer to be in chains than to be free.”
- “Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
- “A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.”
- “I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.”
- “There is a destination but no way there; what we refer to as way is hesitation.”
All of these quotes elucidate Kafka’s profound understanding of human nature and his ability to articulate the complexities of human life and emotion. Many of these profound and insightful statements are still as relevant today as they were when Kafka first wrote them. Indeed, his words continue to inspire and provoke thought in readers around the world. As such, Franz Kafka’s quotes are memorialized and will stand the test of time.