#franz

I see, these books are probably law books, and it is an essential part of the justice dispensed here that you should be condemned not only in innocence but also in ignorance. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#injustice #the-trial #injustice

If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#metamorphosis #business

The fog is clearing; life is a matter of taste. ↗

— Frank Wedekind

#life #living #suicide #life

Even if no salvation should come, I want to be worthy of it at every moment. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#franz-kafka #heaven #kafka #life #moment

I am in the world only for the purpose of composing. Franz Schubert ↗

— Franz Schubert

#franz-schubert #music #music

I am a cage, in search of a bird. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#birds

There are any number of reasons to want novels to survive. The way [Jonathan] Franzen thinks about it is that books can do things, socially useful things, that other media can't. He cites -- as one does -- the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and his idea of busyness: that state of constant distraction that allows people to avoid difficult realities and maintain self-deceptions. With the help of cell phones, e-mail and handheld games, it's easier to stay busy, in the Kierkegaardian sense, than it's ever been. Reading, in its quietness and sustained concentration, is the opposite of busyness. "We are so distracted by and engulfed by the technologies we've created, and by the constant barrage of so-called information that comes our way, that more than ever to immerse yourself in an involving book seems socially useful," Franzen says. "The place of stillness that you have to go to to write, but also to read seriously, is the point where you can actually make responsible decisions, where you can actually engage productively with an otherwise scary and unmanageable world. ↗

— Lev Grossman

#business

He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#dying #fear #franz #kafka #life

But sleep? On a night like this? What an idea! Just think of how many thoughts a blanket smothers while one lies alone in bed, and how many unhappy dreams it keeps warm. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#kafka #dreams

The three of them knew it. She was Kafka’s mistress. Kafka had dreamt her. The three of them knew it. He was Kafka’s friend. Kafka had dreamt him. The three of them knew it. The woman said to the friend, Tonight I want you to have me. The three of them knew it. The man replied: If we sin, Kafka will stop dreaming us. One of them knew it. There was no longer anyone on earth. Kafka said to himself Now the two of them have gone, I’m left alone. I’ll stop dreaming myself. ↗

— Jorge Luis Borges

#dream #dreams #ein-traum #franz-kafka #jorge-luis-borges