The 50 best phrases of Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924) was a prominent Czechoslovak author who was born in Prague.

Of Jewish origin, Kafka's work influenced great authors of universal literature, such as Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre or Milan Kundera. Among his most widely read and memorable works are The Trial (1925), The Metamorphosis (1915).

His literary style was associated with expressionism, magical realism, and existentialism. In his novels, he attests to a gray vision of the future and human life, influenced to a great extent by the context of World War II and by its probable Schizoid personality Disorder.

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Phrases and aphorisms of Franz Kafka

In today's article We are going to know the best famous quotes and phrases of Franz Kafka, to get closer to his literary and personal universe, understand his work and his thoughts through various fragments of his books and letters.

Without further ado, let's get started.

1. Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind a trail of bureaucracy.

It could well be a way of seeing politics as a mere game of mirages and wills that end up coming to nothing.

2. Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who retains the ability to see beauty never grows old.

Enthusiasm and its strong link with the fact of feeling young.

3. The man's gesture of bitterness is often just the petrified embarrassment of a child.

A pretty apt metaphor.

4. In your fight against the rest of the world I advise you to side with the rest of the world.

One of those phrases by Franz Kafka in which he summarizes a dedicated philosophy.

5. All knowledge, all questions and answers are in the dog.

His favorite animal, all honesty and spontaneity.

6. Leisure is the father of all vices, and is the crowning glory of all virtues.

A duality difficult to express better.

7. Possession does not exist, there is only being: that being that aspires to the last breath, to suffocation.

Having means nothing.

8. Reflecting calmly, very calmly, is better than making desperate decisions.

Reflection always invites you to make more balanced and intelligent decisions, without letting yourself be influenced by emotions.

9. Don Quixote's misfortune was not his fantasy, but Sancho Panza's.

About the work of Miguel de Cervantes: the worst thing that happened to Don Quixote is knowing the reality of things, a stubborn, boring and lethal realism.

10. After a certain point there is no return. That's the point we have to reach.

Franz Kafka's metaphorical phrase that can be applied to a multitude of circumstances.

11. Do not despair, not even because you do not despair. When all seems over, new forces arise. This means that you live.

One of his few optimistic and hopeful phrases.

12. Literature is always an expedition into truth.

Despite being works of fiction, there is a lot of reality in each story that is explained.

13. To believe means to release in oneself the indestructible or better still: free oneself or better yet: be indestructible or better still: be.

In the hope of believing lies vitality, according to Kafka.

14. If the world opposes you, you must side with the world.

You are probably wrong, or at least it should appear that you are not. disguise.

15. Just don't overestimate what I've written; otherwise what I still hope to write would become unattainable.

A way to effectively value your achievements, to fight to reach even higher heights.

16. I must confess that once I was very envious of someone because he was loved, cared for, defended by reason and force and because he lay in peace under the flowers. I always have envy at my fingertips.

A sign of vulnerability.

17. A book must be the ax that breaks the frozen sea that is within us.

About reading and his powers.

18. Each man carries within himself a room. It is a fact confirmed by our own hearing. When you walk fast and listen, especially at night when everything around you is silent, you hear, for example, the tremors of a poorly hung wall mirror.

An interesting reflection on human perception.

19. It's a blow because it will take time from me and I need all the time and a thousand times more, preferably all the time that exists, to think of you, to breathe in you.

One of his letters to Milena.

20. He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek is found.

To find we must remain attentive, but without falling into obsession.

21. Many times it is safer to be chained than to be free.

Another phrase by Franz Kafka in which we glimpse his weak spirit.

22. Everything you are looking for is also looking for you.

A truly poetic phrase about the objectives and goals we have in life.

23. August 2, 1914: Germany has declared war on Russia. In the afternoon, swimming class.

One of the most remembered phrases from his diaries, written at the dawn of the First World War.

24. I'm doing it wrong, I'm doing it right; what you prefer.

Reality can be conceived differently by various people.

25. I never imagined that so many days would finally make such a small life.

A truly disturbing phrase that is truly integrated into his work.

26. The meaning of life is that it stops.

All the work of this great author is impregnated with a remarkable pessimism.

27. There are times when I am convinced that I am not suitable for any human relationship.

The greatest writers always had problems integrating into society.

28. Religions are lost like men.

Kafka was always very critical of the religion of his time.

29. The bachelor apparently resigns himself by his own will and in full life to an empty space, each time smaller. And he dies, the coffin is enough for him.

A very pessimistic view of single life.

30. The real enemy transmits unlimited value to you.

We can learn a lot from our greatest enemies.

31. The history of men is an instant between two steps of a walker.

A truly poetic and daunting reflection on human nature.

32. Isolation is a way of knowing ourselves.

Something that those who have been locked up in jail for a long time know perfectly well.

33. I no longer know if I want to drown in love, in vodka or in the sea.

Kafka's life was just as harrowing and discouraging as his writings.

34. Fortune is understanding that the ground you stand on cannot be larger than the two feet that cover it.

Valuing in its fair measure what we have at all times we will feel lucky.

35. Better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

A vision and philosophy of life that we can put into practice on a daily basis.

36. If the book we read doesn't wake us up with a punch to the head, why read it?

Many of his quotes speak of the extraordinary power that books have on readers.

37. It is only because of their stupidity that some can be so sure of themselves.

The wisest people are those who doubt the most.

38. Like a path in autumn: as soon as it is swept, it is covered with dry leaves again.

All of Kafka's work is riddled with truly poetic phrases.

39. I'm tired, I can't think of anything and I just want to put my face in your lap, feel your hand on my head and stay that way for all eternity.

A dedication of love that we can send to that special person.

40. I don't speak as I think, I don't think as I should, and everything continues in defenseless darkness.

Throughout his life, Kafka experienced truly distressing and depressive episodes.

41. Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

A good way to start doing things right.

42. Many books are like the key to unknown chambers within one's own castle.

Kafka tells us in many of his writings about the wonders of reading.

43. Everything you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.

An immortal plea in favor of love.

44. I am free and that is why I am lost.

Existentialism was always one of the most common themes in his work.

45. Just because your doctor has a name for your disease doesn't mean he knows what it is.

A rather pessimistic view of medicine.

46. Don't waste time looking for an obstacle, maybe there isn't one.

On many occasions we are the ones who create our own problems.

47. You are both the silence and the confusion of my heart.

A truly beautiful dedication that perfectly sums up the contradictions in love.

48. The paths are made by walking.

An idea that is repeated throughout the history of humanity in different cultures.

49. A faith is like a guillotine, so heavy, so light...

A truly amazing comparison, like many of the themes in his work.

50. I get the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

Some of his phrases are loaded with optimism and positivity.