{"author":"Franz Kafka","author_id":"Franz+Kafka","total_quotes":160,"quotes":[{"text":"You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["world","yourself","suffering "],"id":800,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"It is entirely conceivable that life's splendour forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from our view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come. This is the essence of magic, which does not create but summonsFranz Kafka, 18 October 1921Es ist sehr gut denkbar, dass die Herrlichkeit des Lebes um jeden und immer in ihrer ganzen Fülle bereitliegt, aber verhängt, in der Tiefe, unsichtbar, sehr weit. Aber sie liegt dort, nicht feindselig, nicht widerwillig, nicht taub. Ruft man sie mit dem richtigen Wort, beim richtigen Namen, dann kommt sie. Das ist das Wesen der Zauberei, die nicht schafft, sondern ruft.Kafkas Tagebücher,18 Oktober 1921.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["buddhism","diary","hope","magic","splendour"],"id":7275,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["start","right","rather "],"id":8632,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"The history of mankind is the instant between two strides taken by a traveler.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["mankind","two","between "],"id":9865,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"In our folk nobody has any experience of youth, there’s barely even any time for being a toddler. The children simply don’t have any time in which they might be children........Indeed... There’s simply no way that we would be able to provide our children with a viable childhood, one that is real. Naturally, there are consequences. There’s a certain ever present, not to be liquidated childishness that permeates our folk; We often act in ways that are totally and utterly ridiculous and, indeed, precisely like children we do things that are crazy, letting loose with our assets in a manner that is bereft of all rationality, prodigious in our celebrations, partaking in a light-headed frivolousness that is divorced from all sensibility, and often enough all simply for the sake of some small token of fun, so much do we love having our small amusements. But our folk isn’t only childish, to a certain extent we also age prematurely, childhood and old age mix themselves differently with us than by others. We don’t have any youth, we jump right away into maturity and, then, we remain grown-ups for too long and as a consequence to this there’s a broad shadow of a certain tiredness and a sort of hopelessness that colours our essential nature, a nature that as a whole is otherwise so tenacious and permeated by hope, strong hope. This, no doubt, this is related to why we’re so disinclined toward music—we’re too old for music, so much excitement, so much passion doesn’t sit well with our heaviness;.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["childhood","grown-ups","maturity"],"id":12719,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"Guilt is never to be doubted.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["doubt","guilt"],"id":13164,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"Atlas was permitted the opinion that he was at liberty, if he wished, to drop the Earth and creep away; but this opinion was all that he was permitted.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["liberty","life","opinion"],"id":13427,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"My job is unbearable to me because it conflicts with my only desire and my only calling, which is literature. Since I am nothing but literature and can and want to be nothing else, my job will never take possession of me, it may, however, shatter me completely, and this is by no means a remote possibility.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["literature"],"id":14954,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"Evil does not exist; once you have crossed the threshold, all is good. Once in another world, you must hold your tongue.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["inspiration","spirituality"],"id":21318,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"},{"text":"In front of the law there is a doorkeeper. A man from the countryside comes up to the door and asks for entry. But the doorkeeper says he can't let him in to the law right now. The man thinks about this, and then he asks if he'll be able to go in later on. 'That's possible,' says the doorkeeper, 'but not now'. The gateway to the law is open as it always is, and the doorkeeper has stepped to one side, so the man bends over to try and see in. When the doorkeeper notices this he laughs and says, 'If you're tempted give it a try, try and go in even though I say you can't. Careful though: I'm powerful. And I'm only the lowliest of all the doormen. But there’s a doorkeeper for each of the rooms and each of them is more powerful than the last. It's more than I can stand just to look at the third one.","author":"Franz Kafka","tags":["law"],"id":21432,"author_id":"Franz+Kafka"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":160,"pages":16,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}