"You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid."

Nature

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Insight & Reflection

Words carry weight, and Franz Kafka's insight into nature is no exception. It serves as a gentle reminder that amidst the chaos of modern life, timeless wisdom still holds the power to guide our decisions and clarify our values.

About Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a German-language Jewish Czech writer and novelist born in Prague, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature, his works fuse elements of realism and the fantastique, and typically feature isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surreal predicaments and incomprehensible bureaucratic powers. The term Kafkaesque has entered the lexicon to describe situations like those depicted in his writings. His best-known works include the novella The Metamorphosis (1915) and the novels The Trial (1925) and The Castle (1926). He is also celebrated for his brief fables and aphorisms, which frequently incorporated comedic elements alongside the darker themes of his longer works. His work has widely influenced artists, philosophers, composers, filmmakers, literary historians, religious scholars, and cultural theorists.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Franz Kafka

"The relationship to one's fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving it is from prayer that one draws the strength for one's striving."

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"Self-control means wanting to be effective at some random point in the infinite radiations of my spiritual existence."

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"One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer."

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More about Nature

"Divorced from the cosmos, from nature, from society and from each other, we have become fractured and fragmented."

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"Do not hurry what nature takes seasons to unfold. This remains the cornerstone of personal mastery — an essential principle for the reflective life."

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"The richness of existence is found in simple harmonies, not superfluous splendors. Such is the immutable nature of understanding — an essential principle for the reflective life."

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