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One can disintegrate the world by means of very strong light. For weak eyes the world becomes solid, for still weaker eyes it seems to develop fists, for eyes weaker still it becomes shamefaced and smashes anyone who dares to gaze upon it.
(Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Prague German Jewish author, novelist. The Third Notebook, December 8, 1917. The Blue Octavo Notebooks, ed. Max Brod, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins. Exact Change, Cambridge, MA (1991). Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, New York, Schocken Books (1954).)
Read more quotations about / on: world, light
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2
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A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.
(Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Prague German Jewish author, novelist. Letter to Oskar Pollak, January 27, 1904. Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors, trans. by Richard and Clara Winston, New York, Schocken Books (1977).)
Read more quotations about / on: sea
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3
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It is often safer to be in chains than to be free.
(Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Czech novelist, short-story writer. The Advocate, in The Trial, ch. 8 (1925, trans. 1935).
An echo of Rousseau's famous dictum.)
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4
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Believing means liberating the indestructible element in oneself, or, more accurately, liberating oneself, or, more accurately, being indestructible, or, more accurately, being.
(Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Prague German Jewish author, novelist. The Third Notebook, November 30, 1917. The Blue Octavo Notebooks, ed. Max Brod, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins. Exact Change, Cambridge, MA (1991). Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, New York, Schocken Books (1954).)
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5
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We are separated from God on two sides: the Fall separates us from Him, the Tree of Life separates Him from us.
(Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Prague German Jewish author, novelist. The Third Notebook, January 18, 1918. The Blue Octavo Notebooks, ed. Max Brod, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins. Exact Change, Cambridge, MA (1991). Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, New York, Schocken Books (1954).)
Read more quotations about / on: tree, god, life
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6
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Religions get lost as people do.
(Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Prague German Jewish author, novelist. The Fourth Notebook, February 26, 1918. The Blue Octavo Notebooks, ed. Max Brod, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins. Exact Change, Cambridge, MA (1991). Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings, trans. by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, New York, Schocken Books (1954).)
Read more quotations about / on: lost, people
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7
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A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.
(Franz Kafka (1883-1924), German novelist and short story writer. The Collected Aphorisms, no. 13 (Oct. 1917-Feb. 1918); published in Shorter Works, vol. 1, ed. and trans. by Malcolm Pasley (1973).)
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