Some deny the existence of misery by pointing to the sun; he denies the existence of the sun by pointing to misery.
Franz KafkaRead
There has never been a time in which I have been convinced from within myself that I am alive. You see, I have only such a fugitive awareness of things around me that I always feel they were once real and are now fleeting away. I have a constant longing, my dear sir, to catch a glimpse of things as they may have been before they show themselves to me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a deep sense of existential uncertainty and the fleeting nature of perception.
In this quote, Kafka expresses a profound dissatisfaction with his own awareness of existence, suggesting that he feels disconnected from the reality around him. He describes a continuous yearning to grasp the essence of experiences and events just as they occur, but instead finds himself only capturing echoes of what has passed, emphasizing the transient nature of life and perception.
Themes
ExistentialismPerceptionAwarenessFleetingLonging
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussing the nature of reality.
More from Franz Kafka
All quotes →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 KafkaRead
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.
Franz KafkaRead
Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.
Franz KafkaRead
A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.
Franz KafkaRead
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
Similar quotes
It is no longer simply the merchant prince, or the aristocratic monopoly, or even the employing class, that is exploiting the world: it is the nation, a new democratic nation composed of united capital and labor.
Howard ZinnRead
There's certainly nothing original about the observation that conscious experience poses a hard problem.
David ChalmersRead
It is hard not to see into the future, faced with today's blind architecture - a thousand times more stupid and more revolting than that of other ages. How bored we shall be inside!
Andre BretonRead
A man of clear ideas errs grievously if he imagines that whatever is seen confusedly does not exist; it belongs to him, when he meets with such a thing, to dispel the midst, and fix the outlines of the vague form which is looming through it.
John Stuart MillRead
Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world.
William Moulton MarstonRead
All grandeur, all power, and all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears.
Joseph De MaistreRead