Franz Kafka

"How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense"

what a strenuous career it is that I’ve chosen

You've not behaved towards us the way we deserve after being so good to you, you forget that we, whatever we are, we're still free men and you're not, and that's quite an advantage.

Was he an animal if music could captivate him so?

There is a view according to which fear of marriage sometimes has its source in a fear that one’s children would some day pay one back for the sins one has committed against one’s own parents

don't go out looking for guilt among the public; it's the guilt that draws them out, like it says in the law, and they have to send us police officers out. That's the law. Where d'you think there'd be any mistake there?"

It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves.

that I'm forced to forbid you to do something that you ought to have forbidden yourself to do,

Justice needs to remain still, otherwise the scales will move about and it won't be possible to make a just verdict."

How are we to avoid those in office becoming deeply corrupt when everything is devoid of meaning? That is impossible, not even the highest judge would be able to achieve that for himself. That is why policemen try to steal the clothes off the back of those they arrest, that is why supervisors break into the homes of people they do not know, that is why innocent people are humiliated in front of crowds rather than being given a proper trial.