Writer Quotes by Franz Kafka

Writer speaks a stench.

— Franz Kafka

Writers speak stench.

— Franz Kafka

Books are a narcotic.

— Franz Kafka

In a way, I was safe writing

— Franz Kafka

Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.

— Franz Kafka

What is written is merely the dregs of experience.

— Franz Kafka

Some books seem like a key to unfamiliar rooms in one’s own castle.

— Franz Kafka

Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.

— Franz Kafka

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.

— Franz Kafka

There will be no proof that I ever was a writer.

— Franz Kafka

Writing means revealing oneself to excess.

— Franz Kafka

We need the books that affect us like a disaster

— Franz Kafka

I wanted to escape the unrest, to shut out the voices around me and within me, so I write.

— Franz Kafka

I believe that we should only read those books that bite and sting us. If a book does not rouse us with…

— Franz Kafka

“If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for.”

— Franz Kafka

I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough - but like a dead man.

— Franz Kafka

I believe that we should read only those books that bite and sting us. If a book we are reading does not…

— Franz Kafka

Writing is a deeper sleep than death. Just as one wouldn't pull a corpse from its grave, I can't be dragged from…

— Franz Kafka

“That is a very poor career, but only a poor career give the world the light that an imperfect, but pretty good…

— Franz Kafka

“A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity." [ Letter to Max Brod , July 5, 1922]”

— Franz Kafka

“But fundamentally the reason for my not writing is the vague feeling that I have so much and such extremely important things…

— Franz Kafka

We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more…

— Franz Kafka

...the books we need are the kind that act upon us like a misfortune, that make us suffer like the death of…

— Franz Kafka

“The books we need are of the kind that act upon us like a misfortune, that makes us suffer like the death…

— Franz Kafka

The existence of the writer is an argument against the existence of the soul, for the soul has obviously taken flight from…

— Franz Kafka

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading…

— Franz Kafka

“For when one is about to embark on some enterprise, it is precisely the books whose contents have nothing at all in…

— Franz Kafka

Each of us has his own way of emerging from the underworld, mine is by writing. That's why the only way I…

— Franz Kafka

“Perhaps there is another kind of writing, I only know this one, in the night, when anxiety does not let me sleep,…

— Franz Kafka

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading…

— Franz Kafka

“You once said that you would like to sit beside me while I write. Listen, in that case I could not write…

— Franz Kafka

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't…

— Franz Kafka

If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we…

— Franz Kafka

Writing sustains me. But wouldn’t it be better to say it sustains this kind of life? Which doesn't mean life is any…

— Franz Kafka

“If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skulls, then why do we…

— Franz Kafka

“Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn’t shake…

— Franz Kafka

A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.

— Franz Kafka

If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an…

— Franz Kafka

If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we…

— Franz Kafka

The old incapacity. Interrupted my writing for barely ten days and already cast out. Once again prodigious efforts stand before me. You…

— Franz Kafka