History and the people who lived through the harder times from the past have so much to teach us. Yet many people don’t take advantage of the internet to explore and research the past and learn from it.
I’ve just discovered Franz Kafka, and I find that I can relate to his outlook on life and I really resonate with several of his well-known quotes.
“If you find someone who makes you smile, who checks up on you often to see if you're okay. Who watches out or you and wants the best for you. Who loves and respects you. Don't let them go. People like that are hard to find.”
“The truth is always an abyss. One must — as in a swimming pool — dare to dive from the quivering springboard of trivial everyday experience and sink into the depths, in order to later rise again — laughing and fighting for breath — to the now doubly illuminated surface of things.”
“Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
“Most men are not wicked... They are sleep-walkers, not evil evildoers.”
“Evil is whatever distracts.”
— FRANZ KAFKA
A very short mini biography of Kafka below.
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was a German-language writer from Prague, known for unsettling stories about alienation, bureaucracy, and power. His best-known works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. “Kafkaesque” describes situations that feel absurd, oppressive, and impossible to navigate.
Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883, when the city was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in a German-speaking Jewish family and studied law, later working for an insurance company. He wrote mainly in his spare time.
Kafka had a difficult relationship with his demanding father, and his letters and diaries reveal deep self-doubt and loneliness. He died of tuberculosis in 1924, aged 40.
What “Kafkaesque” means “Kafkaesque” describes an experience that feels absurd, confusing, and oppressive—often involving impersonal authorities, rules that make no sense, and a person trapped in a system they cannot understand or challenge. The term comes from the atmosphere of Kafka’s writing.
