Possessing an exquisite talent for fusing elements of realism and the fantastic, Franz Kafka was a German-language writer of visionary fiction.
Kafka’s parents paid little to no attention to their son’s dream of becoming a writer one day. His father worshipped nothing but material success and couldn’t care less about Kafka’s creative side. That overbearing personality instilled in him a sense of impotence and self-doubt as Kafka would later describe in one of his works – Letter to Father.
He became a man that craved social isolation, even though during the day he was this charming and intelligent individual who worked hard at an insurance company. The nights were consumed in writing and exploring themes such as anxiety, absurdity, alienation and guilt.
Kafka managed to publish some of his writings during his lifetime, but gained worldwide fame only after his death. The Trial and The Metamorphosis are among his best known works that offer an extraordinary depth of introspective insight.
Here are 15 Franz Kafka quotes that will change the way you think.
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.
By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.
He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived.
I usually solve problems by letting them devour me.
Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.
I can love only what I can place so high above me that I cannot reach it.
There are two cardinal sins from which all others spring: impatience and laziness.
Do not waste your time looking for an obstacle – maybe there is none.
There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe … but not for us.
Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have.
Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.
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.
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.
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.