Kafka
Selected Aphorisms
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/f5764eae-6534-4a96-ad36-05999b675c45_rw_1200.jpg?h=0f0526bce1e6d7d84da7083d4d320733)
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![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/5c61ffb5-c7c1-46aa-9725-1678932985c6_rw_1200.jpg?h=d18ce0c44304ada6c25a48631348eb78)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/ff9a40f0-6956-4307-88be-3f10d2dc1a68_rw_1200.jpg?h=a0996e25230f7acf9206431f8ab17d39)
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![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/0bc110ea-f545-4bf1-9d8a-233cf03457e9_rw_1200.jpg?h=4d6926384e6650f3b97574dae306d94a)
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![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/fb25d26d-1c73-41d6-ac8b-ab95193c2c9f_rw_1200.jpg?h=87696abb429e507c692d256aac502464)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/2d4fd6f2-386e-4f47-bdd3-927a889e3a1d_rw_1200.jpg?h=fe0d9d1a7e1199ac21a1cbc077597f4c)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/1d7e298f-7ccf-4611-a869-049c8c7bf350_rw_1200.jpg?h=409926874f8ca0bfb271fea89939b1fc)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b2be229b-4e1a-415a-9587-15caa16169d8/d856a292-37b0-40c9-aeed-dd8e78e360b2_rw_1200.jpg?h=92fe1383578eee7a17ad199583e05727)
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TRANSLATIONS (mine, in order of appearance)
#18 Had it been possible to build the tower of Babel without climbing it, it would have been allowed.
#80 Truth is indivisible and cannot recognize itself; only a lie can recognize the truth.
#87 Faith, like the guillotine, so heavy, so light.
#58 One lies the least when one lies as little as possible, not when one has less opportunity to lie.
#5 At a certain point the possibility of turning back no longer exists. This is the point to be reached.
#43 The dogs are still playing in the yard, but the prey will not escape them no matter how swiftly it is already running through the forest.
#94 Two tasks for a life's beginning: to narrow your orbit more and more, and to keep confirming that you are not hiding somewhere outside it.
#1 The true way leads along a tightrope stretched not overhead but just above the ground. It seems meant to make you stumble rather than to be walked upon.
#7 Evil's most potent means of seduction is the invitation to fight.
#16 A cage went looking for a bird.
#20 Leopards break into the chapel and empty the sacrificial chalices; this happens over and over until it can be predicted and becomes part of the ceremony.
#24 To comprehend the happy fact that the ground on which you stand cannot be any larger than what is covered by your two feet.