Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer based in Prague. He has been regarded as one of the most thought-provoking and influential writers of 20th-century literature. Here are the best Franz Kafka quotes about life, love, death, and more that will change your perspective on life.
Franz is best known for his literary works including classics like “The Metamorphosis,” “The Trial,” and “The Castle.”
His writings were mostly characterized by a surreal and often unsettling quality, exploring themes of alienation, absurdity, existential anxiety, guilt, and the struggles of an individual in an oppressive society.
Kafka’s works are exceptional because they make you feel uneasy and make you contemplate the essence of human existence. His novels and stories go beyond traditional storytelling, making you ponder big questions.
His writings have been so impactful that the term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
Some of his other notable works include “Amerika”, “Description of a Struggle”, “In the Penal Colony”, “Letter to Father”, “Meditation”, and “The Judgment”.
These meaningful and inspirational Franz Kafka quotes throw light on his philosophy which is a combination of realism and unreal forces that are both practical and romantic.
Top 10 Franz Kafka Quotes
- “All language is but a poor translation.” — Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka Quotes - “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” — Franz Kafka
Quotes By Franz Kafka - “He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived.” — Franz Kafka
Quotes Of Franz Kafka - “Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have.” — Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka Sayings - “Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.” — Franz Kafka
Best Franz Kafka Quotes - “I no longer know if I wish to drown myself in love, vodka or the sea.” — Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka Love Quotes - “Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.” — Franz Kafka
- “There are two cardinal sins from which all others spring: impatience and laziness.” — Franz Kafka
- “Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.” — Franz Kafka
- “From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.” — Franz Kafka
Famous Quotes Of Franz Kafka
- “Only the moment counts. It determines life.” — Franz Kafka
- “I usually solve problems by letting them devour me.” — Franz Kafka
- “There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe… but not for us.” — Franz Kafka
- “I do not read advertisements. I would spend all of my time wanting things.” — Franz Kafka
- “It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves.” — Franz Kafka
- “I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.” — Franz Kafka
- “By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.” — Franz Kafka
- “We live in an age which is so possessed by demons, that soon we shall only be able to do goodness and justice in the deepest secrecy, as if it were a crime.” — Franz Kafka
- “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.” — Franz Kafka
- “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.” — Franz Kafka
Deep Franz Kafka Love Quotes
- “I can’t hold enough of you in my hands.” — Franz Kafka
- “It is not difficult to love the ones who leave.” — Franz Kafka
- “I can love only what I can place so high above me that I cannot reach it.” — Franz Kafka
- “If you become involved with me, you will be throwing yourself into the abyss.” — Franz Kafka
- “In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.” — Franz Kafka
- “The mediation by the serpent was necessary. Evil can seduce man, but cannot become man.” — Franz Kafka
- “I know of no greater happiness than to be with you all the time, without interruption, without end.” — Franz Kafka
- “Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.” — Franz Kafka
- “I’m tired, can’t think of anything and want only to lay my face in your lap, feel your hand on my head and remain like that through all eternity.” — Franz Kafka
- “I need all the time I have and a thousand times more than all the time I have and most of all I’d like to have all the time there is just for you, for thinking about you, for breathing in you.” — Franz Kafka
Inspirational Franz Kafka Quotes
- “The meaning of life is that it stops.” — Franz Kafka
- “Isolation is a way to know ourselves.” — Franz Kafka
- “I do not see the world at all; I invent it.” — Franz Kafka
- “Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it.” — Franz Kafka
- “God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.” — Franz Kafka
- “I have spent my life resisting the desire to end it.” — Franz Kafka
- “A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.” — Franz Kafka
- “He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.” — Franz Kafka
- “I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.” — Franz Kafka
- “Do not waste your time looking for an obstacle – maybe there is none.” — Franz Kafka
Best Quotes By Franz Kafka
- “I am a cage, in search of a bird.” — Franz Kafka
- “I am free and that is why I am lost.” — Franz Kafka
- “Slept, awoke, slept, awoke, miserable life.” — Franz Kafka
- “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” — Franz Kafka
- “Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.” — Franz Kafka
- “You can choose to be free, but it’s last decision you’ll ever make.” — Franz Kafka
- “One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer.” — Franz Kafka
- “There are only two things. Truth and lies. Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie.” — Franz Kafka
- “I write differently from what I speak, I speak differently from what I think, I think differently from the way I ought to think, and so it all proceeds into deepest darkness.” — Franz Kafka
- “In a way, you are poetry material; You are full of cloudy subtleties I am willing to spend a lifetime figuring out. Words burst in your essence and you carry their dust in the pores of your ethereal individuality.” — Franz Kafka
More Franz Kafka Quotes
- “I am fond of lovers but I can’t love, I am too far away, I am banished.” — Franz Kafka
- “I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.” — Franz Kafka
- “I was ashamed of myself when I realized life was a costume party; and I attended with my real face.” — Franz Kafka
- “Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” — Franz Kafka
- “If you find someone who makes you smile, who checks up on you often to see if you’re okay. Who watches out or you and wants the best for you. Who loves and respects you. Don’t let them go. People like that are hard to find.” — Franz Kafka
- “Life’s splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come.” — Franz Kafka
More About Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was born into a middle-class German-speaking Czech Jewish family in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia.
He is best known for his literary works including “Die Verwandung”, “Das Schloss”, and “Der Process”. His work usually fuses elements of realism and the fantastic.
Although, he died at the young age of 40 from tuberculosis but his writing has influenced a lot of people who found wisdom and enlightenment in his words.
Hopefully, you loved reading the above collection of inspirational, thought-provoking, and wise Franz Kafka quotes and sayings.
Conclusion
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