“So then you’re free?’
‘Yes, I’m free,’ said Karl, and nothing seemed more worthless than his freedom.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“It's impossible to defend oneself in the absence of goodwill”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“He looked sadly down at the street, as though it were his own bottomless sadness.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“In the morning and in the evening and at night in his dreams, this street was filled with constantly bustling traffic, which seen from above seemed like a continually self-replenishing mixture of distorted human figures and of the roofs of all sorts of vehicles, constantly scattered by new arrivals, out of which there arose a new, stronger, wilder mixture of noise, dust, and smells, and, catching and penetrating it all, a powerful light that was continually dispersed, carried away, and avidly refracted by the mass of objects that made such a physical impression on one's dazzled eye that it seemed as if a glass pane, hanging over the street and converging everything, were being smashed again and again with the utmost force.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“After all, one does not laugh at senator's nephew at the first opportunity that presents itself.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“Karl, oh my Karl!' she cried, as if by gazing at him she were confirming her possession, while Karl saw absolutely nothing and felt uncomfortable in the warm bedding that she seemed to have piled up specially for his benefit.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“He had vented all his woes and now they might as well see the few rags that covered his body, after which they could carry him away.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“[...] jeder nützte seine Macht aus und beschimpfte den Niedrigen. War man einmal daran gewöhnt, klang es nicht anders als das regelmäßige Uhrenschlagen.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“Pero tales cosas por lo visto no se toman en consideración en el momento decisivo, en ninguno de los continentes, ni en Europa ni en América, sino antes bien se toman decisiones según el rapto de furia del primer momento y conforme a la primera sentencia que salga de la boca.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“Zavallı küçük bir göçmen olarak karaya ayak basmış olsaydı, nerede kalırdı acaba? Evet, belki de onu -göçmen yasaları konusundaki bilgisine dayanarak bunu çok olası buluyordu dayı- Birleşik Devletler'e almazlardı bile, artık bir yurdu olmadığını umursamadan eve yollarlardı. Çünkü burada kimse kimseye acımazdı, Karl'ın bu açıdan Amerika hakkında okumuş olduğu şeyler de çok doğruydu; yalnızca şanslı olanlar çevrelerindeki kaygısız yüzler arasında şanslarının gerçekten tadını çıkarıyor gibiydiler.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“Annesi korkunç bir akşam pencerenin önünde Amerika yolculuğunu haber verdiğinde, asla mektup yazmamaya geri dönülmez biçimde yemin etmişti etmesine, ama deneyimsiz bir gencin ettiği böyle bir yemin buradaki yeni koşullarda kaç yazardı! O zamanlar, Amerika'da iki ay kaldıktan sonra Amerikan ordusunda general olacağına da yemin etse olurdu; gerçekteyse New York dışında bir otelde; tavan arasında bir odada iki serseriyle beraberdi, ayrıca burada gerçekten yerini bulmuş olduğunu da itiraf etmeliydi.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“„Dann sind Sie also frei?“ fragte sie. „Ja frei bin ich“, sagte Karl und nichts schien ihm wertloser.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Amerika
“La verdad que no me importa si no entiendo a las mujeres. Lo único que vale la pena es que lo quieran a uno. Si están nerviosas, si se hacen problemas por cualquier macana, bueno nena, ya está, deme un beso y se acabó. (La señorita Cora)”
― Julio Cortázar, quote from Todos los fuegos el fuego
“إن العالم ينفق كليّة طاقاته في مقولات الـ (نعم)و (لا) ضمن نقد ما فكر فيه غيره؛ أما هو فإنه لم يعد يفكر”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from Ecce Homo
“But if any man undertake to write a history, that has to be collected from materials gathered by observation and the reading of works not easy to be got in all places, nor written always in his own language, but many of them foreign and dispersed in other hands, for him, undoubtedly, it is in the first place and above all things most necessary, to reside in some city of good note, addicted to liberal arts, and populous; where he may have plenty of all sorts of books, and upon inquiry may hear and inform himself of such particulars as, having escaped the pens of writers, are more faithfully preserved in the memories of men, lest his work be deficient in many things, even those which it can least dispense with.”
― Plutarch, quote from Parallel Lives
“I’m yours. There will never come a time when I don’t belong to you. It’s you for me, or no one. You hear me? Only you. Only yours. Forever.”
― J. Sterling, quote from The Sweetest Game
“He who helped thee when thou wert in trouble ought not afterwards to be despised by thee.”
― Jacob Grimm, quote from The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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