Quotes by Franz Kafka

Anybody who preserves the ability to recognize beauty will never get old.

I never wish to be easily defined. I’d rather float over other people’s minds as something strictly fluid and non-perceivable; more like a transparent, paradoxically iridescent creature rather than an actual person.

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.

If you find someone who makes you smile, who checks up on you often to see if you're okay. Who watches out or you and wants the best for you. Who loves and respects you. Don't let them go. People like that are hard to find.

Do not waste your time looking for an obstacle - maybe there is none.

I am free and that is why I am lost.

I lack nothing. I only needed myself.

There sat I, a faded being, under faded leaves.

There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.

Love is, that you are the knife which I plunge into myself.

Isolation is a way to know ourselves.

It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves.

I no longer know If I wish to drown myself in love, vodka or the sea.

Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

I am a cage, in search of a bird.

Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have.

People label themselves with all sorts of adjectives. I can only pronounce myself as 'nauseatingly miserable beyond repair'.

I usually solve problems by letting them devour me.

We live in an age which is so possessed by demons, that soon we shall only be able to do goodness and justice in the deepest secrecy, as if it were a crime.

Slept, awoke, slept, awoke, miserable life.

Paths are made by walking

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.