--- title: "7 Kafkaesque Quotes by 5 authors" description: "Browse 7 Kafkaesque quotes by 5 authors. Discover the best Kafkaesque sayings and thoughts." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d6/david-foster-wallace-161_employment_it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-g_11573.jpg" --- > [“It's no accident that in a bureaucracy getting fired is called 'termination,' as in ontological erasure.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-getting-fired-is-called/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d6/david-foster-wallace-161_employment_it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-g_11573.jpg) > [“Gregor’s serious wound, from which he suffered for over a month - the apple remained imbedded in his flesh as a visible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/gregor-s-serious-wound-from-which-he-suffered-for-over-a-month-the/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/franz-kafka-214_family_gregor-s-serious-wound-from-which-he-suf_1112603.jpg) > [Whoever utters 'Kafkaesque' has neither fathomed nor intuited nor felt the impress of Kafka's devisings. If there is one imperative that ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/whoever-utters-kafkaesque-has-neither-fathomed-nor-intuited-nor-felt/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/cynthia-ozick-2945_accompany_whoever-utters-kafkaesque-has-neither-fa_1162942.png) > [If something's a little weird, it's Kafkaesque.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-tomine/if-something-s-a-little-weird-it-s-kafkaesque/) [Adrian Tomine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-tomine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b7/adrian-tomine-11778_ifs_if-something-s-a-little-weird-it-s-kafka_1495148.jpg) > [To say that such-and-such a circumstance is 'Kafkaesque' is to admit to the denigration of an imagination that has burned a hole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/to-say-that-such-and-such-a-circumstance-is-kafkaesque-is-to-admit-to/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67b/cynthia-ozick-2945_admit_to-say-that-such-and-such-a-circumstance_1567756.jpg) > [“the blend of absurd, surreal and mundane which gave rise to the adjective "kafkaesque”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/the-blend-of-absurd-surreal-and-mundane-which-gave-rise-to-the/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ec/franz-kafka-214_quote_the-blend-of-absurd-surreal-and-mundane_1711791.jpg) > [“I haven't re-read Kafka for forty years. I had a second read-through when first teaching English at the University of Warwick in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-gekoski/i-haven-t-re-read-kafka-for-forty-years-i-had-a-second-read-through/) [Rick Gekoski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-gekoski/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f20/rick-gekoski-43052_books_i-haven-t-re-read-kafka-for-forty-years_3126348.jpg) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kafkaesque/#itemlist", "name": "Kafkaesque Quotes", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It's no accident that in a bureaucracy getting fired is called 'termination,' as in ontological erasure.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Foster Wallace" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-getting-fired-is-called/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d6/david-foster-wallace-161_employment_it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-g_11573.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d6/david-foster-wallace-161_employment_it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-g_11573.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d6/david-foster-wallace-161_employment_it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-g_11573.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's no accident that in a bureaucracy getting fired is called 'termination,' as in ontological erasure.” — David Foster Wallace", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“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.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Franz Kafka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/gregor-s-serious-wound-from-which-he-suffered-for-over-a-month-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/franz-kafka-214_family_gregor-s-serious-wound-from-which-he-suf_1112603.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/franz-kafka-214_family_gregor-s-serious-wound-from-which-he-suf_1112603.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/franz-kafka-214_family_gregor-s-serious-wound-from-which-he-suf_1112603.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Gregor’s serious wound, from which he suffered for over a month - the apple remained imbedded in his flesh…” — Franz Kafka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Whoever utters 'Kafkaesque' has neither fathomed nor intuited nor felt the impress of Kafka's devisings. If there is one imperative that ought to accompany any biographical or critical approach, it is that Kafka is not to be mistaken for the Kafkaesque.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cynthia Ozick" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/whoever-utters-kafkaesque-has-neither-fathomed-nor-intuited-nor-felt/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/cynthia-ozick-2945_accompany_whoever-utters-kafkaesque-has-neither-fa_1162942.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/cynthia-ozick-2945_accompany_whoever-utters-kafkaesque-has-neither-fa_1162942.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/cynthia-ozick-2945_accompany_whoever-utters-kafkaesque-has-neither-fa_1162942.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whoever utters 'Kafkaesque' has neither fathomed nor intuited nor felt the impress of Kafka's devisings. If…” — Cynthia Ozick", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If something's a little weird, it's Kafkaesque.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adrian Tomine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-tomine/if-something-s-a-little-weird-it-s-kafkaesque/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b7/adrian-tomine-11778_ifs_if-something-s-a-little-weird-it-s-kafka_1495148.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b7/adrian-tomine-11778_ifs_if-something-s-a-little-weird-it-s-kafka_1495148.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b7/adrian-tomine-11778_ifs_if-something-s-a-little-weird-it-s-kafka_1495148.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If something's a little weird, it's Kafkaesque.” — Adrian Tomine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To say that such-and-such a circumstance is 'Kafkaesque' is to admit to the denigration of an imagination that has burned a hole in what we take to be modernism - even in what we take to be the ordinary fabric and intent of language. Nothing is like 'The Hunger Artist.' Nothing is like 'The Metamorphosis.'", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cynthia Ozick" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/to-say-that-such-and-such-a-circumstance-is-kafkaesque-is-to-admit-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67b/cynthia-ozick-2945_admit_to-say-that-such-and-such-a-circumstance_1567756.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67b/cynthia-ozick-2945_admit_to-say-that-such-and-such-a-circumstance_1567756.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67b/cynthia-ozick-2945_admit_to-say-that-such-and-such-a-circumstance_1567756.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To say that such-and-such a circumstance is 'Kafkaesque' is to admit to the denigration of an imagination…” — Cynthia Ozick", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“the blend of absurd, surreal and mundane which gave rise to the adjective \"kafkaesque”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Franz Kafka" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/the-blend-of-absurd-surreal-and-mundane-which-gave-rise-to-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ec/franz-kafka-214_quote_the-blend-of-absurd-surreal-and-mundane_1711791.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ec/franz-kafka-214_quote_the-blend-of-absurd-surreal-and-mundane_1711791.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ec/franz-kafka-214_quote_the-blend-of-absurd-surreal-and-mundane_1711791.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“the blend of absurd, surreal and mundane which gave rise to the adjective \"kafkaesque” — Franz Kafka", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I haven't re-read Kafka for forty years. I had a second read-through when first teaching English at the University of Warwick in the 1970s, but since then have not been tempted to return. The reason for this, I suspect, is that he is a young person's writer, not in the sense that only the young can appreciate him, but because on first exposure he is so comprehensively and unexpectedly formative that you may never feel the need to read him again. He becomes part of you, and your mind and spirit and view of the human condition are inhabited by his stories, his views, and especially his characters: by poor persecuted Josef K., by Gregor Samsa trapped in his rotting shell, by the hunger artist, yearning to find something, anything, that is actually good to eat, by poor K., who can't get into the castle to visit the Authorities. Kafkaesque: a world incomprehensible, alienating and threatening, absurd. We visit it with incomprehension and at our peril, lost at all points, disorientated, inoculated against faith, searchers for meaning in a book - and universe that either has none, or in which it lurks inaccessibly. Once you have read Kafka, you know this.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rick Gekoski" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-gekoski/i-haven-t-re-read-kafka-for-forty-years-i-had-a-second-read-through/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f20/rick-gekoski-43052_books_i-haven-t-re-read-kafka-for-forty-years_3126348.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f20/rick-gekoski-43052_books_i-haven-t-re-read-kafka-for-forty-years_3126348.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f20/rick-gekoski-43052_books_i-haven-t-re-read-kafka-for-forty-years_3126348.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I haven't re-read Kafka for forty years. I had a second read-through when first teaching English at the…” — Rick Gekoski", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kafkaesque/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kafkaesque/", "name": "Kafkaesque Quotes", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kafkaesque/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d6/david-foster-wallace-161_employment_it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-g_11573.jpg" }, "description": "Browse 7 Kafkaesque quotes by 5 authors. 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