Quotes from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I have spent all my life resisting the desire to end it.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell about something I only feel in my bones and which can only be experienced in those bones. Basically it is nothing other than this fear we have so often talked about, but fear spread to everything, fear of the greatest as of the smallest, fear, paralyzing fear of pronouncing a word, although this fear may not only be fear but also a longing for something greater than all that is fearful.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I miss you deeply, unfathomably, senselessly, terribly.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I’m tired, can’t think of anything and want only to lay my face in your lap, feel your hand on my head and remain like that through all eternity.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“Written kisses don't reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“In a way, you are poetry material; You are full of cloudy subtleties I am willing to spend a lifetime figuring out. Words burst in your essence and you carry their dust in the pores of your ethereal individuality.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“Yours

(now I'm even losing my name - it was getting shorter and shorter all the time and is now: Yours)”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“Do you know, darling? When you became involved with others you quite possibly stepped down a level or two, but If you become involved with me, you will be throwing yourself into the abyss.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“أنا قذر يا ميلينا، قذر بلا حدود، لذلك أصرخ كثيراً بشأن الطهارة”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“When one is alone, imperfection must be endured every minute of the day; a couple, however, does not have to put up with it. Aren’t our eyes made to be torn out, and our hearts for the same purpose? At the same time it’s really not that bad; that’s an exaggeration and a lie, everything is exaggeration, the only truth is longing. But even the truth of longing is not so much its own truth; it’s really an expression for everything else, which is a lie. This sounds crazy and distorted, but it’s true. Moreover, perhaps it isn’t love when I say you are what I love the most - you are the knife I turn inside myself, this is love. This, my dear, is love.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“You are the knife I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I am dirty, Milena, endlessly dirty, that is why I make such a fuss about cleanliness. None sing as purely as those in deepest hell; it is their singing we take for the singing of angels.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“sleep is the most innocent creature there is and a sleepless man
the most guilty.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“Sometimes I have the feeling that we're in one room with two opposite doors and each of us holds the handle of one door, one of us flicks an eyelash and the other is already behind his door, and now the first one has but to utter a word ad immediately the second one has closed his door behind him and can no longer be seen. He's sure to open the door again for it's a room which perhaps one cannot leave. If only the first one were not precisely like the second, if he were calm, if he would only pretend not to look at the other, if he slowly set the room in order as though it were a room like any other; but instead he does exactly the same as the other at his door, sometimes even both are behind the doors and the the beautiful room is empty.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I’m thinking only of my illness and my health, though both, the first as well as the second, are you.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I am always trying to convey something that can’t be conveyed, to explain something which is inexplicable, to tell about something I have in my bones, something which can be expressed only in the bones.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“For myself I am too heavy, and for you too light.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I’m doing badly, I’m doing well, whichever you prefer.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“If I could drown in sleep as I drown in fear I would be no longer alive.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I can't think of anything to write about, I'm just walking around here between the lines, under the light of your eyes, in the breadth of your mouth as in a beautiful happy day, which remains beautiful and happy, even when the head is sick and tired.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“it was like this. the brain could no longer bear the worries and pains that were imposed on it. it said: "i'm giving up; but if there is anyone else here who is interested in preserving the whole, let him assume part of my burden and it will be alright for a bit.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I can’t feel a thing; All mournful petal storms are dancing inside the very private spring of my head.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“Nor is it perhaps really love when I say that for me you are the most beloved; In this love you are like a knife, with which I explore myself.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“German is my mother tongue and as such more natural to me, but I consider Czech much more affectionate, which is why your letter removes several uncertainties; I see you more clearly, the movements of your body, your hands, so quick, so resolute, it’s almost like a meeting.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“It seems to be a fact that man, tortured by his demons, avenges himself blindly on his fellow-man.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“And don't demand any sincerity from me, Milena. No one can demand it from me more than I myself and yet many things elude me, I'm sure, perhaps everything eludes me.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“Milena - what a rich heavy name, almost too full to be lifted, and in the beginning I didn't like it much, it seemed to me a Greek or Roman gone astray in Bohemia, violated by Czech, cheated of its accent, and yet in colour and form it is marvellously a woman, a woman whom one carries in one's arms out of the world, and out of the fire, I don't know which, and she presses herself willingly and trustingly into your arms.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“كتابة الرسائل .. تعني أن تعري نفسكَ أمام الأشباح ، و هو شيء لطالما كانوا ينتظرونه بفارغ الصبر. كتابة القُبل فيها لا يعني أنها ستصل إلى مكانها المقصود ، بينما على العكس ، يتخطفها الأشباح على طول الطريق."

(كافكا إلى ميلينا)”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

“I'm on such a dangerous road, Milena. You're standing firmly near a tree, young, beautiful, your eyes subduing with their radiance the suffering world.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Letters to Milena: Expanded and Revised in a New Translation

About the author

Popular quotes

“...I never would have seen Chelsea reach up, take Logan's face in her hands, and kiss him. So the off again was definitely on again. And I knew then that Patrick was very wrong about my heart, because if it had actually been an encyclopedia I could have watched it all with perfect composure.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward

“Gwendolyn and I have a beautiful relationship. She tells me everything. I haven't killed her yet.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“So long as there is breath in your body, nothing is that bad. Nothing. You must remember that.”
― Lola St. Vil, quote from The Triplex

“Never be bothered by what people say, as long as you know in your heart you are right.”
― Dale Carnegie, quote from How To Enjoy Your Life And Your Job

“Viewed as a whole, climbing all fourteen 8,000ers would have seemed almost impossible, but I took it one day at a time, one step at a time. I was passionate about what I did, and I never gave up. “Whatever challenge you have before you can be accomplished in the same fashion—whether it takes a week, two months, or a year. If you look at the challenge as a whole, it may seem insuperable, but if you break it down into tangible steps, it can seem more reasonable, and ultimately achievable.” The model for that strategy comes from the way I learned to break up the “impossible” 4,000-foot climb to a summit into tiny, manageable pieces: just get to that rock outcrop there, then focus on the ice block up ahead, and so on. For”
― Ed Viesturs, quote from No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.