A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. - Franz Kafka

"Evil does not exist; once you have crossed the threshold, all is good. Once in another world, you must hold your tongue."

"He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived."

"Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself."

"A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity."[Letter to Max Brod, July 5, 1922]"

"I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough - but like a dead man."