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  • Franz Kafka Quotes   420
  • If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read? So that it shall make us happy? Good God, we should also be happy if we had no books, and such books as make us happy we could, if need be, write ourselves. But what we must have are those books which come upon us like ill fortune, and distress us deeply, like the death of one we love better than ourselves; like suicide. A book must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Franz Kafka Quotes , Happiness Quotes , Suicide Quotes
  • Art flies around truth, but with the definite intention of not getting burnt. Its capacity lies in finding in the dark void a place where the beam of light can be intensely caught, without this having been perceptible before.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Franz Kafka Quotes , Art Quotes , Lying Quotes
  • He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning. He still saw that outside the window everything was beginning to grow light. Then, without his consent, his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Franz Kafka Quotes , Morning Quotes , Reflection Quotes
  • For we are like tree trunks in the snow. In appearance they lie smoothly and a little push should be enough to set them rolling. No, it can't be done, for they are firmly wedded to the ground. But see, even that is only appearance.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Franz Kafka Quotes , Lying Quotes , Snow Quotes
  • My grandfather used to say: Life is astoundingly short. To me, looking back over it, life seems so foreshortened that I scarcely understand, for instance, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village without being afraid that -not to mention accidents- even the span of a normal happy life may fall far short of the time needed for such a journey.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Franz Kafka Quotes , Fall Quotes , Happy Life Quotes