Quote

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?

Franz Kafka

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Franz Kafka
Age: 41 †
Born: 1883
Born: July 3
Died: 1924
Died: July 3
Aphorist
Claims Adjuster
Diarist
Fabulist
Lawyer
Novelist
Poet Lawyer
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Short Story Writer
Translator
Writer
Praha
František Kafka
Kafka
Thinking
Head
Books
Reading
Stab
Read
Wound
Doesn
Wounds
Book
Wake
Kind
Blow
Think
Ought

More quotes by Franz Kafka

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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 gazing into the evening waters, His hands resting on old stones.
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The relationship to one's fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving it is from prayer that one draws the strength for one's striving.
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Writing [is] a form of prayer.
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The existence of the writer is an argument against the existence of the soul, for the soul has obviously taken flight from the real ego, but not improved itself, only become a writer.
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So then you’re free?’ ‘Yes, I’m free,’ said Karl, and nothing seemed more worthless than his freedom.
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I do not speak as I think, I do not think as I should, and so it all goes on in helpless darkness.
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He is a free and secure citizen of the world because he is on a chain that is long enough to allow him access to all parts of the earth, and yet not so long that he could be swept over the edge of it.
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Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.
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No, said the priest, you don't need to accept everything as true, you only have to accept it as necessary. Depressing view, said K. The lie made into the rule of the world.
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I do not see the world at all I invent it.
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His biggest misgiving came from his concern about the loud crash that was bound to occur and would probably create, if not terror, at least anxiety behind all the doors. But that would have to be risked.
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We need the books that affect us like a disaster
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Photography concentrates one's eye on the superficial. For that reason it obscures the hidden life which glimmers through the outlines of things like a play of light and shade. One can't catch that even with the sharpest lens.
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In theory there is a possibility of perfect happiness: To believe in the indestructible element within one, and not to strive towards it.
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One must fight to get to the top, especially if one starts at the bottom.
Franz Kafka
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Don't despair, not even over the fact that you don't despair.
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Paths are made by walking
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Faith, like a guillotine. As heavy, as light.
Franz Kafka
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Just think how many thoughts a blanket smothers while one lies alone in bed, and how many unhappy dreams it keeps warm.
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Palestine needs earth, but it does not need lawyers.
Franz Kafka