25 Famous Franz Kafka Quotes
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a German-speaking Jewish writer from Prague, celebrated for his surreal, anxiety-filled fiction like The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle, which depict isolated individuals facing absurd, bureaucratic worlds, coining the term “Kafkaesque”. Despite a short life marked by poor health (tuberculosis) and a difficult relationship with his domineering father, he worked as an insurance clerk, writing mostly in secret; his most famous works were published posthumously by his friend Max Brod, against Kafka’s wishes.
- “Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “I no longer know If I wish to drown myself in love, vodka or the sea.” ~ 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
- “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
- “What if I slept a little more and forgot about all this nonsense.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” ~ 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
- “I am a cage, in search of a bird.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “Do not waste your time looking for an obstacle – maybe there is none.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “People label themselves with all sorts of adjectives. I can only pronounce myself as ‘nauseatingly miserable beyond repair’.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “Paths are made by walking” ~ 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
- “I am free and that is why I am lost.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “Anybody who preserves the ability to recognize beauty will never get old.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “It is often safer to be in chains than to be free.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “I usually solve problems by letting them devour me.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “There sat I, a faded being, under faded leaves.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “I never wish to be easily defined.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived.” ~ Franz Kafka
- “There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.” ~ 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
