Feel Quote by Franz Kafka
“There has never been a time in which I have been convinced from within myself that I am alive. You see, I have only such a fugitive awareness of things around me that I always feel they were once real and are now fleeting away. I have a constant longing, my dear sir, to catch a glimpse of things as they may have been before they show themselves to me. I feel that they were calm and beautiful. It must be so, for I often hear people talking about them as though they were.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Trial by Franz Kafka, 1925
The speaker feels a fleeting, detached existence, yearning to grasp a deeper, perhaps lost reality beyond superficial perception.
In simple terms: Feeling detached, yearning for deeper reality.
Key Takeaway
Seek deeper connection beyond fleeting awareness.
Themes
existentialism
longing
perception
reality
memory
Mood
melancholic
reflective
introspective
Type
philosophical
literary
When to use this quote
- art criticism
- personal reflection
- philosophical journaling
- creative writing
- mindfulness practice
Key Concepts
subjectivity
ephemerality
nostalgia
Questions to Reflect On
- What does “alive” mean to you?
- How can you ground fleeting moments?
A Different Perspective
The perspective may romanticize melancholy, overlooking present engagement.
![“The tremendous world I have inside my head. But how [to] free myself and free it without being torn to pieces. And a thousand times [I'd] rather be torn to pieces than rather it in me or bury it. That, indeed, is why I am here, that is quite clear to me.” quote by Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f19/franz-kafka-214_freedom_the-tremendous-world-i-have-inside-my-he_5848.jpg)
