Kafkaesque Quotes

“Gregor’s serious wound, from which he suffered for over a month - the apple remained imbedded in his flesh as a visible souvenir since no one dared to remove it - seemed to have reminded even his father that Gregor was a member of the family, in spite of his present pathetic and repulsive shape, who could not be treated as an enemy; that, on the contrary, it was the commandment of the family duty to swallow their disgust and endure him, endure him and nothing more.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“It's no accident that in a bureaucracy getting fired is called 'termination,' as in ontological erasure.”
― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

“You're like a riddle wrapped in an enigma, but less Churchill and more Kafkaesque.”
― Aura Biru, We Are Everyone

“Rather like "Orwellian", the term "Kafkaesque" has come to be used, often enough by those who have not read a word of Kafka, to describe what are perceived as typically or even uniquely modern traumas: existential alienation, isolation and insecurity, the labyrinth of state bureaucracy, the corrupt or whimsical abuse of totalitarian power, the impenetrable tangle of legal systems, the knock on the door in the middle of the night….”
― John R. Williams, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“It is possible that some people are sorry for me, but I am not aware of it.”
― Franz Kafka, Kafka's Selected Shorter Writings - New Century Edition with DirectLink Technology

“I stand on the end platform of the tram and am completely unsure of my footing in this world, in this town, in my family.”
― Franz Kafka, On the Tram

“Does the first slanting ray of light; not lie?
Catapulted from the arching mountains, into a small stinking dungeon, peeking through the curtains; humming lies. Lies land on the ears like an autumn leaf- falling every so gently to no breeze of the dawn.”
― Teufel Damon

“As I lie in bed I assume the shape of a big beetle, a stag beetle or a cockchafer, I think.”
― Franz Kafka, Wedding Preparations in the Country

“My money is in the hands of strangers.”
― Franz Kafka, Kafka's Selected Shorter Writings - New Century Edition with DirectLink Technology

“İdareci sınıfın ne düşündüğüne hakkında hiçbir fikrim yoktu. Bir çukuru kazınca, haydi bakalım doldur orayı derler; doldurursunuz, bu kez de aynı yeri kaz bakalım, derler. Sıkıntıya katlananlar hep benim gibi, görev yerinde çalışanlar olur.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“For the first time Gersen saw indigenous fauna of Moudervelt: a band of lizard-foxes, with gray-green pangolin scales and a single optic orb. They reared high to watch Gersen pass by; when he slowed the car they advanced with dancing sidelong steps, for purposes Gersen could not guess. He drove on, leaving the troop staring after him.”
― Jack Vance, The Book of Dreams

“The Hunter has been turned into a butterfly. Do not laugh.”
― Franz Kafka

“We are not in general a music-loving race. Tranquil peace is the music we love best; our life is hard, we are no longer able, even on occasions when we have tried to shake off the cares of daily life, to rise to anything so high and remote from our usual routine as music.”
― Franz Kafka, Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

“Take my warning to heart instead, and don't be so unyielding in future, you can't fight against this court, you must confess to guilt. Make your confession at the first chance you get. Until you do that, there is no possibility of getting out of their clutches, none at all.”
― Franz Kafka, Der Prozess

“We wanted to take the road to life, and we've come to a graveyard; we set out for a promised land, and all we see is a desert; we talked about justice, and all we know is terror and despair.”
― Marek Hłasko, The Graveyard

“It's true that you're under arrest, but that shouldn't stop you from carrying out your job. And there shouldn't be anything to stop you carrying on with your usual life."

"In that case it's not too bad, being under arrest," said K.”
― Frank Kafka, The Trial

“Era ahora demasiado libre, podía esperar en el lugar prohibido tanto como quisiera, había conquistado esa libertad como nadie hubiera sabido hacerlo, y nadie tenía derecho a tocarle, ni a expulsarle, incluso incomodarle, pero —y esta convicción era por lo menos tan fuerte como la otra— nada había tampoco más falto de sentido ni más desesperante que dicha libertad, dicha espera y dicha intangibilidad.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“Veía brillar su sonrisa, pero esto le ayudaba tan poco como las estrellas en lo alto cuando abajo ruge la tempestad.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“No conozco mayor felicidad que estar a tu lado, siempre, y sin cesar, y sin fin, mientras que no encuentro ningún lugar en la tierra sufiencientemente tranquilo para nuestro amor ni en el pueblo ni fuera, y sueño con una fosa estrecha y profunda: ahí estamos abrazados, apretados como contra un torno, escondo mi rostro contra ti, tú lo haces contra mí, y nadie nos ve.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“No lleno de esperanza [...], sino sabiendo perfectamente que no debo esperar aquí más que decepciones, y que será preciso beberlas todas una a una y hasta la última gota.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“Hablaba tristemente, como si hubiera conocido la maldad del mundo contra la que todo cuanto en sí mismo fracasa no tiene ya ningún sentido.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“Y con tantas pretensiones particulares, ¿cae desde la primera noche en la trampa más burda? ¿No tiene vergüenza?”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“Me parece que los dos nos hemos esforzado demasiado —demasiado bruscamente, demasiado puerilmente, y con demasiada experiencia— en obtener algo que no puede ser conquistado sino con, por ejemplo, la calma [...], suavamente, imperceptiblemente. Nosotros hemos empleado el llanto, las uñas, las sacudidas, como un niño que hace jirones el mantel y no logra más que echar por tierra todos los esplendores de la mesa, haciéndosele inaccessibles para siempre.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle

“Ella tuvo un escalofrío, le saltó al cuello y cayeron los dos al suelo, donde rodaron como dos locos, rápida la respiración, temerosamente, como si quisieran esconderse el uno del otro, como si el placer que sentían perteneciera a un tercero, al que se lo robasen.”
― Franz Kafka, The Castle