The Metamorphosis Quotes

“فإن فكرة من الأفكارلا يمكن أن تنقرض مهما كانت متطفلة ,ما دامت قد وجدت ذات مرة، أو أنها لا يمكنها على الأقل أن تنقرض دون صراع رهيب، ودون أن تتمكن من تحقيق لنفسها دفاعا فعلا ينجح في أن يثبت طويلا.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“Then birds flew up like a shower of sparks, I followed them with my eyes and saw how they rose in a single breath, until they seemed no longer to be rising but I to be falling...”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“He had always believed that his father had not been able to save a penny from the business, at least his father had never told him anything to the contrary, and Gregor, for his part, had never asked him any questions. In those days Gregor's sole concern had been to do everything in his power to make the family forget as quickly as possible the business disaster which had plunged everyone into a state of total despair. And so he had begun to work with special ardor and had risen almost overnight from stock clerk to traveling salesman, which of course had opened up very different money-making possibilities, and in no time his successes on the job were transformed, by means of commissions, into hard cash that could be plunked down on the table at home in front of his astonished and delighted family. Those had been the wonderful times, and they had never returned, at least not with the same glory, although later on Gregor earned enough money to meet the expenses of the entire family and actually did so. They had just gotten used to it, the family as well as Gregor, the money was received with thanks and given with pleasure, but no special feeling of warmth went with it any more. ”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“He slid back again into his earlier position. "This getting up early," he thought, "makes a man quite idiotic. A man must have his sleep. Other travelling salesmen live like harem women. For instance, when I come back to the inn during the course of the morning to write up the necessary orders, these gentlemen are just sitting down to breakfast. If I were to try that with my boss, I'd be thrown out on the spot. Still, who knows whether that mightn't be really good for me? If I didn't hold back for my parents' sake, I'd have quit ages ago. I would've gone to the boss and told him just what I think from the bottom of my heart. He would've fallen right off his desk! How weird it is to sit up at that desk and talk down to the employee from way up there. The boss has trouble hearing, so the employee has to step up quite close to him. Anyway, I haven't completely given up that hope yet. Once I've got together the money to pay off my parents' debt to him—that should take another five or six years—I'll do it for sure. Then I'll make the big break. In any case, right now I have to get up. My train leaves at five o'clock”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“But perhaps the enthusiastic sensibility of young women of her age also played a role. This feeling sought release at every opportunity, and with it Grete now felt tempted to want to make Gregor's situation even more terrifying, so that then she would be able to do even more for him than now.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“ولا شك أن آبائنا الأولين عندما أخطأوا، لم يكونوا قد توهموا علي الأغلب أدنى وهم بان خطائهم ذاك كان خطأ لا نهاية له. فلقد كان ما يزال في وسعهم أن يروا بالفعل مفترق الطرق . ولقد كان سهلا ظان يتراجعوا متى شاؤوا ذلك . فأذ كانوا ترددوا في التراجع . فلقد كان ذلك فقط لأنهم رغبوا في أن يتمتعوا بحياة الكلاب لفترة قصيرة أخرى .أن حياتهم لم تكن بعد قد أصبحت حياة الكلب الحقيقية . إلا أنها بدت في أعينهم وقتها حياه جميله ساحره الصورة فماذا يمكنها أن تكون غير ذلك
إنهم لم يدركوا ما الذي يسعنا أن نظنه الآن متأملين مجري التاريخ ...بان ذلك التغير قد بدأ في الروح قبل أن يبتدي في وجوده الملموس.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“Away in the distance, a train appeared behind the trees, all its compartments were lit, the windows were sure to be open. One of us started singing a ballad, but we all wanted to sing. We sang far quicker than the speed of the train, we swung our arms because our voices weren't enough, our voices got into a tangle where we felt happy. If you mix your voice with others' voices, you feel as though you're caught on a hook. (trans. Michael Hofmann)”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“[He] used to be so insignificant that one literally felt alone in his presence.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“É bom quando nossa consciência sofre grandes ferimentos, pois isso a torna mais sensível a cada estímulo. Penso que devemos ler apenas livros que nos ferem, que nos afligem. Se o livro que estamos lendo não nos desperta como um soco no crânio, por que perder tempo lendo-o? Para que ele nos torne felizes, como você diz? Oh Deus, nós seríamos felizes do mesmo modo se esses livros não existissem. Livros que nos fazem felizes poderíamos escrever nós mesmos num piscar de olhos. Precisamos de livros que nos atinjam como a mais dolorosa desventura, que nos assolem profundamente – como a morte de alguém que amávamos mais do que a nós mesmos –, que nos façam sentir que fomos banidos para o ermo, para longe de qualquer presença humana – como um suicídio. Um livro deve ser um machado para o mar congelado que há dentro de nós”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“Oh, God”, he thought, “what a strenuous career it is that I’ve chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there’s the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them. It can all go to Hell!”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“It is to us artisans and tradesmen that the salvation of the fatherland is entrusted; but we are not equal to such a task; never, indeed, have we claimed that we were capable of performing it. It is a misunderstanding; and it is proving our ruin.”
― Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“I hope it is nothing serious. On the other hand, I must also say that we business people, luckily or unluckily, however one looks at it, very often simply have to overcome a slight indisposition for business reasons.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“Selfishness is one of the surest signs of profound unhappiness.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“Girls of that age, though, do become enthusiastic about things and feel they must get their way whenever they can.”
― Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis

“...they had so much to worry about at present that they had lost sight of any thought for the future.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“The man from the country has not expected such difficulties; the law, he thinks, should be accessible to everyone and at all times; but as he now takes a closer look at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, at his large pointed nose, his long, sparse, black Tartar beard, he decides that it is better, after all, to wait until he receives permission to enter.”
― Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“All he wanted to do now was to get up quietly and undisturbed, get dressed, and, most important, eat breakfast, and only then consider what to do next, because, as he was well aware, in bed he could never think of anything through to a reasonable conclusion.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“Rather like "Orwellian", the term "Kafkaesque" has come to be used, often enough by those who have not read a word of Kafka, to describe what are perceived as typically or even uniquely modern traumas: existential alienation, isolation and insecurity, the labyrinth of state bureaucracy, the corrupt or whimsical abuse of totalitarian power, the impenetrable tangle of legal systems, the knock on the door in the middle of the night….”
― John R. Williams, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“He slid back into his previous position.
'Getting up so early,' he thought, 'makes one entirely stupid. People must have their sleep.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“Nobody reaches through here, least of all with a message from one who is dead. You, however, sit at your window and dream of the message when evening comes.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“Writing, when it springs from within, is like giving birth, and the child is covered in mucus”
― Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis

“Als Gregor schon zur Hälfte aus dem Bette ragte – die neue Methode war mehr ein Spiel als eine Anstrengung, er brauchte immer nur ruckweise zu schaukeln – , fiel ihm ein, wie einfach alles wäre, wenn man ihm zu Hilfe käme.”
― Franz Kafka, Die Verwandlung

“Oare era doar un simplu animal,când muzica îl emoționa atât de profund?Avea impresia că descoperă,în fine,calea către hrana necunoscută pe care o dorea atât de mult.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“In a way, I was already punished before I knew I had done anything wrong.”
― Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis and Other Stories

“Gregor erschrak, als er seine antwortende Stimme hörte, die wohl unverkennbar seine frühere war, in die sich aber, wie von unten her, ein nicht zu unterdrückendes, schmerzliches Piepsen mischte, das die Worte förmlich nur im ersten Augenblick in ihrer Deutlichkeit beließ, um sie im Nachklang derart zu zerstören, daß man nicht wußte, ob man recht gehört hatte.”
― Franz Kafka, Die Verwandlung

“With a kind of perverse obstinacy his father refused to take off his official uniform even in the house; and while his robe hung uselessly on the clothes hook, his father dozed, completely dressed, in his chair, as if he were always ready for duty and were waiting even here for the voice of his superior.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

“Sobre su espalda y sus costados arrastraba consigo por todas partes hilos, pelos, restos de comida... Su indiferencia hacia todo era demasiado grande como para tumbarse sobre su espalda y restregarse contra la alfombra, tal como hacia antes varias veces al día.”
― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis