Some deny the existence of misery by pointing to the sun; he denies the existence of the sun by pointing to misery.
Franz KafkaRead
Everything is deception: seeking the minimum of illusion, keeping within the ordinary limitations, seeking the maximum. In the first case one cheats the Good, by trying to make it too easy for oneself to get it, and the Evil by imposing all too unfavorable conditions of warfare on it. In the second case one cheats the Good by keeping as aloof from it as possible, and the Evil by hoping to make it powerless through intensifying it to the utmost.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of deception in life, suggesting that both excessive optimism and extreme pessimism distort our understanding of good and evil.
Franz Kafka's quote deeply engages with the concept of deception in human experience, emphasizing that both the pursuit of minimal illusion and the desire to maximize conditions can lead to a distorted grasp of morality. In seeking to simplify one's relationship with goodness or confront one’s evils, an individual risks misrepresenting the true nature of both, suggesting that a balanced and nuanced approach is necessary to engage properly with life's complexities.
Themes
DeceptionIllusionGoodEvilMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about moral philosophy, one might quote Kafka to illustrate the complexities of good and evil.
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But Gregor understood easily that it was not only consideration for him which prevented their moving, for he could easily have been transported in a suitable crate with a few air holes; what mainly prevented the family from moving was their complete hopelessness and the thought that they had been struck by a misfortune as none of their relatives and acquaintances had ever been hit.
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A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.
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The ulterior motives with which you absorb and assimilate Evil are not your own but those of Evil. _x000D_ The animal wrests the whip from its master and whips itself in order to become master, not knowing that this is only a fantasy produced by a new knot in the master's whiplash.
Franz KafkaRead
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Behind the violence of the birthing of galaxies and stars and planets came a quiet and tender melody, a gentle love song. All the raging of creation, the continuing hydrogen explosions on the countless suns, the heaving of planetary bodies, all was enfolded in a patient, waiting love.
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Lysander SpoonerRead
We had been hopelessly labouring to plough waste lands; to make nationality grow in a place full of the certainty of God… Among the tribes our creed could be only like the desert grass – a beautiful swift seeming of spring; which, after a day’s heat, fell dusty.
T. E. LawrenceRead
When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego, and when we escape like squirrels turning in the cages of our personality and get into the forests again, we shall shiver with cold and fright but things will happen to us so that we don't know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in, and passion will make our bodies taut with power, we shall stamp our feet with new power and old things will fall down, we shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like burnt paper.
D. H. LawrenceRead