Kafka french quotes. Franz Kafka - aphorisms. Franz Kafka: quotes about life

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Kafka born into a Jewish family living in the Prague ghetto. He had two younger brothers and three younger sisters. The boys died before Franz was six years old, and the girls Ellie, Valli and Ottla died in Nazi concentration camps. After graduating from Charles University, Kafka received a doctorate in law, after which he entered the service of the insurance department, where he worked in modest positions until his premature retirement due to illness.

Work for the writer was a secondary and burdensome occupation: in his numerous diaries and letters, he more than once admitted his hatred of his boss, colleagues and clients. The first thing for him was always literature, “justifying his entire existence.”

Kafka began his creative journey in 1909, when he published two excerpts from the unfinished story “Description of a Struggle.” In 1911, the writer traveled to Italy, France and Switzerland, and in 1912 began work on the novel “The Missing” (later called “America”). At the same time, the short stories "The Verdict" and "Metamorphosis". The following year was marked by the release of the collection "Contemplation", after which Kafka began writing the novel "Process". In 1919, a collection of short stories "The Country Doctor" was published.

The writer’s life had many problems: he was constantly ill, and could not establish a relationship with his father and start a family. All this is reflected in his complex, absurd, atmospheric and sometimes shocking works. Among the four people whom the writer, “without pretending to compare with them in strength and intelligence,” felt as “his blood brothers,” were Gustave Flaubert, Franz Grillparzer, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Heinrich von Kleist.

In 1922, due to an exacerbation of tuberculosis, he was forced to retire. At this time he began work on the novel "Lock", prepared a collection of short stories for publication "Hunger Man", story "One Dog's Research" and the story "Nora". On June 3, 1924, the writer passed away.

Kafka left behind three unfinished novels, several collections of short stories and parables, letters and diaries. Fame came to him posthumously when, contrary to his will, his executor did not destroy the manuscripts, but published them.

"Evening Moscow" brings to your attention a selection of famous quotes and aphorisms of the writer, whose work is recognized as a unique phenomenon in world literature.

“I have no interest in literature, literature is me, it is my flesh and blood, and I cannot be different.”

"Sometimes I wonder how people managed to invent the concept of "fun"; it is quite possible that they calculated it only theoretically - as opposed to sadness."

“What is clear in the soul is equally irrefutable and clear on paper.”

“All the unhappiness in my life comes from letters or from the ability to write them.”

“Women are traps that are waiting for men everywhere in order to drag them back to the End.”

"Beginning from a certain point, going back is no longer possible. This point must be reached."

“The true path follows a rope that is not stretched high, but above the ground itself. It seems designed more for stumbling over than for walking along it.”

"One of the most effective temptations of evil is the call to fight."

“Theoretically, there is the complete possibility of happiness: to believe in something indestructible in oneself and not strive for it.”

“Faith is the ax of the guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.”

“Two possibilities: to make oneself infinitely small or to be one. The second is completion, which means inactivity, the first is the beginning, which means action.”

“You can distance yourself from the suffering of the world, this is allowed to you and corresponds to your nature, but perhaps this very detachment is the only suffering that you could avoid.”

"The first sign of the beginning of knowledge is the desire to die."

“Life distracts our attention all the time; and we don’t even have time to notice from what exactly.”

“A thought expressed out loud immediately and completely loses its meaning; written down, it always loses it too, but sometimes it acquires a new meaning.”

“For a healthy person, life, strictly speaking, is just an unconscious escape, which he does not admit to himself - an escape from the thought that sooner or later he will have to die. Illness is always both a reminder and a test of strength. Therefore, illness, pain, suffering - the most important source of religiosity."

“Whoever has known the fullness of life does not know the fear of death. Fear of death is only the result of an unfulfilled life. This is an expression of betrayal of it.”

"Happiness excludes old age. He who retains the ability to see beauty does not grow old."

"Art is always a matter of the whole personality. Therefore, it is fundamentally tragic."

“For theater to have an impact on life, it must be stronger, more intense than everyday life. When shooting, you need to aim higher than the target.”

“Chance exists only in our heads, in our limited perception. It is a reflection of the limits of our knowledge. The fight against chance is always a fight against ourselves, a fight in which we can never become winners.”

"The shackles of tormented humanity are made of stationery."

“Everything, including lies, serves the truth. Shadows do not extinguish the sun.”

"Doctor, give me death - otherwise you are a murderer (Kafka's dying words)."

(1883 - 1924) - an outstanding Czech writer of Jewish origin. He wrote his works in German, but was published almost nowhere. In his will, he asked his friend Max Brod that his entire literary heritage be destroyed. But Brod did not fulfill Kafka’s last wish, thanks to which the whole world saw the great (but unfinished) novels “The Trial”, “The Castle” and “America”, as well as brilliant short stories. As it turned out, Kafka turned out to be one of the main writers of the last century. Numerous authors around the world (ranging from Murakami to Borges) have called him their teacher.

We have selected 20 quotes from the works of Franz Kafka:

You look too much for help from others. Don't you notice that this help is not real? "Process"
Just don’t stop halfway, this is the most pointless thing not only in business, but in general, always and everywhere. "Process"
The court doesn't need anything from you. The court accepts you when you come and releases you when you leave. "Process"
It’s strange,” said Fräulein Bürstner, “it’s strange that I have to forbid you exactly what you yourself should have forbidden.” "Process"
How can we, given the absolute senselessness of the entire system as a whole, avoid the most terrible corruption of officials? "Process"
Everything in the world has to do with the court. "Process"
The present justice, obviously, consists in convicting a person not only innocent, but also ignorant. "Process"
Even the night moth, a pitiful insect, with the onset of day looks for a quiet place where to lie down and freeze, dreaming of completely disappearing and suffering because it is impossible to disappear. "Lock"
Tell me: doesn’t it seem to you that she is somehow especially smart? - It seems to me that she is somehow especially unhappy. "Lock"
This early rise, he thought, could drive you completely crazy. A person must get enough sleep. "Lock"
You can encourage a blindfolded person as much as you like - let him look through the scarf, he still won’t see anything, and only when the scarf is removed will he see everything. Help is what a person needs, not encouragement. "Lock"
She is not so easy to understand because you often don’t know whether she is speaking mockingly or seriously. Most often she speaks seriously, but it sounds like a mockery. "Lock"
Parents who expect gratitude from their children (there are even those who demand it) are like moneylenders: they are willing to risk their capital in order to receive interest. "Diaries"
Everything is fantasy: family, service, friends, street; everything is a fantasy, more distant or closer, and the wife is a fantasy; the closest truth is that you are banging your head against the wall of a cell in which there are no windows or doors. "Diaries"
Leave me my books. That is all I have. "Diaries"
And if you are always treated like a dog, then in the end you begin to think that you are a dog. "America"
The contempt of the police is much better than their attentiveness. "America"
Life distracts our attention all the time; and we don’t even have time to notice why exactly. "Letter to Father"
What is clear in the soul is equally irrefutable and clear on paper. "From letters to Felitsa"
But when do you sleep? - Yes, I’m sleeping! I will sleep when I complete my education. In the meantime, I drink black coffee. "America"

Franz Kafka is one of the strangest, most unusual and shocking writers of the 20th century. Due to his difficult and difficult life, Kafka constantly tried to go against society. Unfortunately, his work only gained popularity after his death. Quotes from Franz Kafka are quite harsh, but they make you think about a lot.

It is not difficult to love someone who leaves.

“I have no interest in literature, literature is me, it is my flesh and blood, and I cannot be different.”

“What is clear in the soul is equally irrefutable and clear on paper.”

“All the unhappiness of my life comes from letters or from the ability to write them.”

“Women are traps that are waiting for men everywhere in order to drag them back to the End.”

“After a certain point, returning is no longer possible. This point must be reached."

“The true path follows a rope that is not stretched high, but above the ground itself. It seems designed more to be tripped over than to be walked on.”

“One of the most effective temptations of evil is the call to fight.”

“Theoretically, there is the complete possibility of happiness: to believe in something indestructible in oneself and not strive for it.”

“Faith is the ax of the guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.”

“Two possibilities: to make oneself infinitesimal or to be one. The second is completion, which means inactivity, the first is the beginning, which means action.”

“You can distance yourself from the suffering of the world, this is allowed to you and corresponds to your nature, but perhaps this very detachment is the only suffering that you could avoid.”

“He who has known the fullness of life does not know the fear of death. Fear of death is only the result of an unfulfilled life. This is an expression of betrayal of her.”

“Happiness excludes old age. He who retains the ability to see beauty does not grow old.”

“Art is always a matter of the whole person. Therefore it is fundamentally tragic.”

“Random exists only in our heads, in our limited perception. It is a reflection of the boundaries of our knowledge. The fight against chance is always a fight against ourselves, a fight in which we can never become winners.”

“The shackles of tormented humanity are made of stationery.”

“Everything, including lies, serves the truth. The shadows don't extinguish the sun."

“Doctor, give me death - otherwise you are a murderer (Kafka’s dying words).”

“The first sign of the beginning of knowledge is the desire to die.”

“Life distracts our attention all the time; and we don’t even have time to notice why exactly.”

“A thought expressed out loud immediately and completely loses its meaning; written down, it also always loses it, but sometimes it acquires a new meaning.”

Franz Kafka

Aphorisms

Reflections on the true path

1. The true path follows a rope that is not stretched high, but above the ground itself. It seems designed more to be tripped over than to be walked on.

2. All human mistakes are impatience, a premature abandonment of method, and an imaginary concentration on an imaginary task.

3. There are two main human sins from which all others flow: impatience and negligence. Because of impatience, people are expelled from paradise, because of negligence they do not return there. Or maybe there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience they were expelled, because of impatience they do not return.

4. Many shadows of the departed are busy only with licking the waves of the river of death, because it flows from us and still retains the salty taste of our sea. Out of disgust, this river rises, begins to flow backwards and carries the dead back to life. And they are happy, singing songs of gratitude and stroking the indignant river.

5. After a certain point, returning is no longer possible. This point must be reached.

6. The decisive moment of human development lasts forever. Therefore, the revolutionary spiritual movements are right when they declare everything that happened in the past to be insignificant, because nothing has happened yet.

7. One of the most effective temptations of evil is the call to fight.

8. It's like a fight with women that ends in bed.

9. A. is very pompous, he thinks that he has been very successful in good, since, obviously being always a tempting object, he experiences more and more temptations from sides completely unknown to him before.

10. And the correct explanation is that a large demon possessed him and a multitude of little ones came running to serve the big one.

11–12. The difference in views that one might have, say, on an apple: the look of a baby who has to crane his neck just to see the apple on the table board, and the look of the owner of the house who takes the apple and easily serves it to his dining companion.

13. The first sign of the beginning of knowledge is the desire to die. This life seems unbearable, the other seems unattainable. You are no longer ashamed that you want to die; you ask to be transferred from the old cell, which you hate, to the new one, which you are just beginning to hate. There is also a remnant of faith here that during the journey the chief will accidentally pass along the corridor, look at the prisoner and say: “Don’t lock this one up anymore. I'm taking him with me."

14. If you walked along a level road, walked of your own free will and still retreated back, then it would be a lost cause; but since you are climbing a steep slope, so steep that from below you yourself seem to be hanging on it, then steps backward can only be caused by the peculiarities of the soil, and you should not despair.

15. It’s like a road in autumn: as soon as it’s swept away, it’s already covered with dry leaves again.

16. The cage went to look for the bird.

17. I have never been to this place before: it breathes differently, more dazzling than the sun, a star shines next to it.

18. If it had been possible to build the Tower of Babel without climbing it, it would have been allowed.

19. Don't let evil convince you that you might have secrets from him.

20. Leopards break into the temple and drink the contents of the sacrificial vessels to the bottom; this is repeated again and again, and eventually it can be provided for and becomes part of the ritual.

21. As tightly as a hand holds a stone. And she holds him tightly only to throw him as far as possible. But the road will lead to that distance.

22. You are the task. Not a single student around.

23. In the presence of a real opponent, boundless courage is instilled in you.

24. To understand what a blessing it is that the soil on which you stand cannot be more than your two feet can cover.

25. How can you be happy in the world? Unless you run into it.

26. There is no number of shelters, there is only one salvation, but again there are as many possibilities of salvation as there are shelters.

There is a goal, but no path; what we called the path is procrastination.

27. To do negative things is still entrusted to us; the positive has already been given to us.

28. Once you allow evil into yourself, it no longer requires that you believe it.

29. The second thoughts with which you allow evil into yourself are not your thoughts, but those of evil.

The animal takes the whip from the master and whips itself to become the master, but it does not know that this is only a fantasy caused by a new knot on the master's whip.

30. Goodness is, in a sense, bleak.

31. I don't strive for self-control. Self-control means willing to act in some random place of the endless emanations of my spiritual personality. And if I have to enclose myself in such circles, I prefer to do it inactively, simply marveling at this monstrous totality and taking home only the reinforcement that, contrato, this look provides.

32. The crows claim that a single crow can destroy the sky. This is beyond doubt, but cannot serve as an argument against heaven, for heaven precisely means the impossibility of crows.

33. The martyrs do not underestimate the body, they try to exalt it on the cross. In this they are united with their opponents.

34. His fatigue was that of a gladiator after a fight; his job consisted of whitewashing the corner of the office room.

35. There is no possession, there is only being, only being thirsting for its last breath, thirsting to suffocate.

36. Previously, I didn’t understand why I didn’t get an answer to my question, today I don’t understand how I could think that it was possible to ask. But I didn’t even think, I just asked.

37. His response to the assertion that he may have possession, but does not exist, was only trembling and heart palpitations.

38. Someone was surprised at how easy it was for him to walk the path of eternity; and he rushed headlong down this path.

39a. Evil cannot be paid in installments - but they are constantly trying.

It can be assumed that Alexander the Great, despite the military successes of his youth, despite the excellent army that he created, despite the forces striving to change the world that he felt within himself, would have stopped at the Hellespont and would never have crossed it, and not from fear, not from indecision, not because of weak will, but because of earthly heaviness.

39b. The path is endless, nothing can be subtracted, nothing can be added, and yet everyone puts their child’s yardstick to it. “Of course, you must go this far, this will count for you.”