The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. Only after death, only in solitude, does a man’s true nature emerge. In death, as on the chimney sweep’s Saturday night, the soot gets washed from his body.

Anyone who loves his neighbor within the limits of the world is doing no more and no less injustice than someone who loves himself within the limits of the world.

I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

But Gregor understood easily that it was not only consideration for him which prevented their moving, for he could easily have been transported in a suitable crate with a few air holes; what mainly prevented the family from moving was their complete hopelessness and the thought that they had been struck by a misfortune as none of their relatives and acquaintances had ever been hit.

I do not read advertisements. I would spend all of my time wanting things.

This noble body, equipped with everything necessary, almost to the point of bursting, also appeared to carry freedom around with it.

I never imagined that so many days would ultimately make such a small life.