May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air.

But what if all the tranquility, all the comfort, all the contentment were now to come to a horrifying end?

When K. looked at the castle, often it seemed to him as if he were observing someone who sat quietly there in front of him gazing, not lost in thought and so oblivious of everything, but free and untroubled, as if he were alone with nobody to observe him, and yet must notice that he was observed, and all the same remained with his calm not even slightly disturbed; and really - one did not know whether it was cause or effect - the gaze of the observer could not remain concentrated there, but slid away.

Writing is a sweet, wonderful reward.

To write prescriptions is easy, but to come to an understanding with people is hard.

and in that recurring dream, I found myself trapped in some sort of gigantic game of which I was unfamiliar with the rules; lost in a labyrinthine town of dark and damp, criss-crossing streets, ambiguous characters of uncertain authority having no idea of why I was there nor what I had to do, and where the first sign of the beginning of understanding was the wish to die.

Because of impatience we were driven out [of Paradise]; because of impatience we cannot return.