Franz Kafka Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Franz Kafka quotes, Franz Kafka sayings, and Franz Kafka proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

In theory there is a possibility of perfect happiness: To believe in the indestructible element within one, and not to strive towards it. Franz Kafka
Martyrs do not underrate the body, they allow it to be elevated on the cross. In this they are at one with their antagonists. Franz Kafka
Follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. Franz Kafka
A stair not worn hollow by footsteps is, regarded from its own point of view, only a boring something made of wood. Franz Kafka
Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy. Franz Kafka
Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues. Franz Kafka
The mediation by the serpent was necessary. Evil can seduce man, but cannot become man. Franz Kafka
Don't be too hasty, don't take somebody else's opinion without testing it. Franz Kafka
The Bible is a sanctum; the world, sputum. Franz Kafka
Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues. Franz Kafka
The limited circle is pure. Franz Kafka
Sensual love deceives one as to the nature of heavenly love; it could not do so alone, but since it unconsciously has the element of heavenly love within it, it can do so. Franz Kafka
Even the merest gesture is holy if it is filled with faith. Franz Kafka
Hiding places there are innumerable, escape is only one, but possibilities of escape, again, are as many as hiding places. Franz Kafka
One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die. Franz Kafka
A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity. Franz Kafka
A lawyer is a person who writes a 10,000-word document and calls it a ‘brief.' Franz Kafka
Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. Franz Kafka
Love is a drama of contradictions. Franz Kafka
To die would mean nothing else than to surrender a nothing to the nothing, but that would be impossible to conceive, for how could a person, even only as a nothing, consciously surrender himself to the nothing, and not merely to an empty nothing but rather to a roaring nothing whose nothingness consists only in its incomprehensibility. Franz Kafka
May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air. Franz Kafka
Dear Nephew, as you will already have realized during our much too brief companionship, I am essentially a man of principle. That is unpleasant and depressing not only to those who come in contact with me, but also to myself as well. Yet it is my principles that have made me what I am, and no one can ask me to deny my fundamental self. Not even you, my dear nephew. Franz Kafka
I no longer know If I wish to drown myself in love, vodka or the sea. Franz Kafka
I know of no greater happiness than to be with you all the time, without interruption, without end. Franz Kafka
Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. Franz Kafka
The crows maintain that a single crow could destroy the heavens. There is no doubt of that, but it proves nothing against the heavens, for heaven simply means: the impossibility of crows. Franz Kafka
No matter how much you keep encouraging someone who is blindfolded to stare through the cloth, he still won’t see a thing. Franz Kafka
A stair not worn hollow by footsteps is, regarded from its own point of view, only a boring something made of wood. Franz Kafka
Because of impatience we were driven out [of Paradise]; because of impatience we cannot return. Franz Kafka
Don't despair, not even over the fact that you don't despair. Franz Kafka