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A man once said: Why such reluctance? If you only followed the parables you yourselves would become parables and with that rid of all your daily cares.
Another said: I bet that is also a parable.
The first said: You have won.
The second said: But unfortunately only in parable.
The first said: No, in reality: in parable you have lost.

— Franz Kafka The Complete Stories (1971)

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More quotes by Franz Kafka

I can prove at any time that my education tried to make another person out of me than the one I became.

The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1923 (1948)

If you only followed the parables you yourselves would become parables and with that rid of all your daily cares.

The Complete Stories (1971)

Plenty of hope — for God — no end of hope — only not for us.

In conversation with Max Brod (1920)

What an obstacle had suddenly arisen to block K.'s career!

The Trial (1920)

Logic may indeed be unshakeable, but it cannot withstand a man who is determined to live.

The Trial (1920)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Franz Kafka (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.