Authors:
  1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. F
  4. Franz Kafka
  5. Lying

Franz Kafka Quotes about Lying

All Franz Kafka Quotes Art Belief Bones Chaos Choices Courage Darkness Death Depression Doubt Earth Effort Eternity Evil Failing Fate Fear Fighting Freedom Giving Goodness Guilt Hate Health Heart Home Human Nature Individuality Inspirational Joy Kissing Life Literature Loneliness Love Lying quotes Morning Past Reading Reality Religion Responsibility Seduction Sleep Solitude Soul Spring Struggle Suffering Time Travel Understanding Waiting Wall Writing
There are only two things. Truth and lies. Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie.

There are only two things. Truth and lies. Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie.

Franz Kafka
Lying, Two, Deceit
Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

Being alone has a power over me that never fails. My interior dissolves (for the time being only superficially) and is ready to release what lies deeper. When I am willfully alone, a slight ordering of my interior begins to take place and I need nothing more.

Franz Kafka
Lying, Needs, Failing

Just think how many thoughts a blanket smothers while one lies alone in bed, and how many unhappy dreams it keeps warm.

Franz Kafka
Dream, Lying, Thinking
Franz Kafka (2015). “Collected Stories”, p.255, Everyman's Library

In me, by myself, without human relationship, there are no visible lies. The limited circle is pure.

Franz Kafka
Lying, Circles, Humans
Franz Kafka (1979). “The Basic Kafka”, p.259, Simon and Schuster

I answer one of your letters, then lie in bed in apparent calm, but my heart beats through my entire body and is conscious only of you. I belong to you; there is really no other way of expressing it, and that is not strong enough.

Franz Kafka
Strong, Lying, Heart
Franz Kafka (2013). “Letters to Felice”, p.37, Schocken

The Kafka paradox: art depends on truth, but truth, being indivisable, cannot know itself: to tell the truth is to lie. thus the writer is the truth, and yet when he speakes he lies.

Franz Kafka
Art, Lying, Telling The Truth

No," said the priest, "you don't need to accept everything as true, you only have to accept it as necessary." "Depressing view," said K. "The lie made into the rule of the world.

Franz Kafka
Depressing, Lying, Views
Franz Kafka (2016). “The Trial”, p.175, Franz Kafka

Life's splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come.

Franz Kafka
Life, Lying, Names
Franz Kafka, Nahum Norbert Glatzer (1974). “I am a memory come alive: autobiographical writings”, Schocken

it is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary.' 'A melancholy conclusion,' said K. 'It turns lying into a universal principle.

Franz Kafka
Lying, Principles, Melancholy
Franz Kafka (1983). “The Penguin complete novels of Franz Kafka”

For we are like tree trunks in the snow. In appearance they lie smoothly and a little push should be enough to set them rolling. No, it can't be done, for they are firmly wedded to the ground. But see, even that is only appearance.

Franz Kafka
Lying, Snow, Tree
Franz Kafka (2012). “The Complete Stories”, p.474, Schocken

One tells as few lies as possible only by telling as few lies as possible, and not by having the least possible opportunity to do so.

Franz Kafka
Lying, Opportunity
Franz Kafka (1954). “Wedding preparations in the country: and other posthumous prose writings. With notes by Max Brod”

Art flies around truth, but with the definite intention of not getting burnt. Its capacity lies in finding in the dark void a place where the beam of light can be intensely caught, without this having been perceptible before.

Franz Kafka
Art, Lying, Dark
Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

You May Also Like: