FRANZ KEFKA

“My ‘fear’ is my substance, and probably the best part of me.”

“I stand on the end platform of the tram and am completely unsure of my footing in this world, in this town, in my family.”

“I picture a grave, deep and narrow, in which we embrace as if clamped together, I bury my face against you, you yours against me, and no one will ever see us.”

“If I could drown in sleep as I drown in fear I would be no longer alive.”  

"Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within."

“Self-control is something for which I do not strive.”  

“Go on caring for me.”

“My condition is not unhappiness, but it is also not happiness, not indifference, not weakness, not fatigue, not another interest – so what is it then?”

“One must fight to get to the top, especially if one starts at the bottom.”

“Oh, if you have to learn,you learn; if you’re desperate for a way out, you learn; you learn pitilessly.”

“Forget everything. Open the windows. Clear the room. The wind blows through it. You see only its emptiness, you search in every corner and don’t find yourself.”

“I carry the bars within me.”

“There is a destination but no way there; what we refer to as way is hesitation.”

“If you become involved with me, you will be throwing yourself into the abyss.”

“Oh, if you have to learn, you learn; if you’re desperate for a way out, you learn; you learn pitilessly.”

“No one can crave what truly harms him.”