Before we read the best quotes by Frank Kafka, Let’s also know a little more about him. Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer. Although he died early at the age of 40 from laryngeal tuberculosis, but he left a deep influence on millions of his fans around the world through his incredible work. He was widely regarded as one of the major figures of the 20th-century literature.
His work showcases elements of realism. We have carefully compiled the best Frank Kafka Quotes on love, life, relationship, success, education and existence.
Top 20 Franz Kafka Quotes to broaden your views:
1. “Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate… but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins.” – Franz Kafka
2. “Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” – Franz Kafka
3. “By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.” – Franz Kafka
4. “God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.” – Franz Kafka
5. “Don’t despair, not even over the fact that you don’t despair.” – Franz Kafka
6. “How pathetically scanty my self-knowledge is compared with, say, my knowledge of my room. There is no such thing as observation of the inner world, as there is of the outer world.” – Franz Kafka
7. “In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.” – Franz Kafka
8. “He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.” – Franz Kafka
9. “One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.” – Franz Kafka
10. “Life’s splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come.” – Franz Kafka
11. “It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet.” – Franz Kafka
12. “May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air.”- Franz Kafka
13. “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” – Franz Kafka
14. “You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.” – Franz Kafka
15. “A belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.” – Franz Kafka
16. “A book should be an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us.” – Frank Kafka quotes on books
17. “Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.” – Best Franz Kafka Sayings
18. “Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.” – Franz Kafka
19. “Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within.” – Franz Kafka
20. “A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die” – Franz Kafka
Few more Thought-provoking Franz Kafka quotes on motivation, problems, and freedom.
“Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have.” – Franz Kafka
“Do not waste your time looking for an obstacle – maybe there is none.” – Franz Kafka
“By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.” – Franz Kafka
“Don’t despair, not even over the fact that you don’t despair.” – 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
“I am a cage, in search of a bird.” – Franz Kafka
“I do not read advertisements. I would spend all of my time wanting things.” – Franz Kafka
“I can love only what I can place so high above me that I cannot reach it.” – Franz Kafka
“He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived.” – Franz Kafka
“I usually solve problems by letting them devour me.” – 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
“It’s often safer to be in chains than to be free.” – Franz Kafka
“Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.” – Franz Kafka
“The history of mankind is the instant between two strides taken by a traveler.” – Franz Kafka
“I’m tired, can’t think of anything and want only to lay my face in your lap, feel your hand on my head and remain like that through all eternity.” – Franz Kafka
“Religions get lost as people do.” – Franz Kafka Quotes on Religion
“Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” – Franz Kafka
“In the struggle between yourself and the world second the world.” – Franz Kafka
“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.” – Franz Kafka
“The meaning of life is that it stops.” – Franz Kafka
Popular Franz Kafka quotes and sayings to be used as status or caption for your social media handles:
“There are two cardinal sins from which all others spring: impatience and laziness.” – Franz Kafka
“They’re talking about things of which they don’t have the slightest understanding, anyway. It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves.” – Franz Kafka
“Theoretically there is a perfect possibility of happiness: believing in the indestructible element in oneself and not striving towards it.” – Franz Kafka
“Writers speak a stench.” – Franz Kafka
“What do I have in common with the Jews? I don’t even have anything in common with myself.” – 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
“You are free and that is why you are lost.” – Franz Kafka
“There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe … but not for us.” – Franz Kafka
“Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” – Franz Kafka
“You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.” – Franz Kafka
What one of these Franz Kafka quotes is your favourite?
