Franz Kafka

I don't feel particularly proud of myself. But when I walk alone in the woods or lie in the meadows, all is well.

Those who do not know how to lie believe that everyone tells the truth.

I have spent all my life resisting the desire to end it.

Reality is too heavy for people, so they rent illusions and call it happiness.

Evil is whatever distracts.

I am nothing to anyone, and that is my greatest freedom.

One idiot is one idiot. Two idiots are two idiots. Ten thousand idiots are a political party.

I am a cage, in search of a bird.

Dearest, I beg of you, sleep properly and go for walks.

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

I have found a new enjoyment for my free time: lying in the grass.

There are two cardinal sins from which all others spring: Impatience and Laziness.

I think you should only read those books which bite and sting you.

Time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.

The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters.

What if I slept a little more and forgot about all this nonsense.

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.

Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.