These things sneak up on him for no reason, these flashes of irrational happiness. It's probably a vitamin deficiency.

Cleverness is a quality a man likes to have in his wife as long as she is some distance away from him. Up close, he'll take kindness any day of the week, if there's nothing more alluring to be had.

When demons are required someone will always be found to supply the part, and whether you step forward or are pushed is all the same in the end.

Nobody quite knows the truth about cats purring, but it does seem to be also a self-healing thing for them, which is why, when you take your cat to the vet and it's frightened, it will purr.

Debt is part of the human condition. Civilization is based on exchanges - on gifts, trades, loans - and the revenges and insults that come when they are not paid back.

It's clear, it's fresh, like a mint candy.

A lot of the stuff Kafka said he thought was hilariously funny.