A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.

Ein Buch muß die Axt sein für das gefrorene Meer in uns.

Franz Kafka

More information about this quote

Topic

Self-discovery Power of literature Books

Author

Franz Kafka

Source

Letters of Franz Kafka

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Occupation

Writer

From

Czech Republic Europe

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Kafka, Franz. Letter to Oskar Pollak. 27 Jan. 1904.

Current Citation

Kafka, Franz. Franz Kafka: Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors, translated by Richard and Clara Winston. Schocken, 1990.

Illustrated Quote

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A quote by Franz Kafka about self-discovery: “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1900s

"Nothing-so it seems to me," said the stranger, "is more beautiful than the love that has weathered the storms of life... The love of the young for the young, that is the beginning of life. But the love of the old for the old, that is the beginning of—of things longer."

Jerome K. Jerome

More information about this quote
Topic
Time tested love Love

Author

Jerome K. Jerome
Source
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Medium
Short story
Language
English
Time
1908 1900s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Jerome, Jerome Klapka. The Passing of the Third Floor Back. Grosset & Dunlap, 1908.

Another quote about Power of literature

My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see. That—and no more, and it is everything.

Joseph Conrad

More information about this quote
Topic
Power of literature

Author

Joseph Conrad
Source
The Nigger of the Narcissus
Language
English
Time
1897 1890s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Forecastle. Heinemann, 1897, preface.

Current Citation

Conrad, Joseph. "The Nigger of the '"Narcissus.'" The Secret Sharer and Other Stories. W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, preface.

Another quote originally in German

What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Twilight of the Idols

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Read Twilight of the Idols at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Resilience Overcoming adversity Adversity Character

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche
Source
Twilight of the Idols
Genre
Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Proverbs, aphorisms and adages
Language
German
Time
1889 1880s 19th century
Authentication Score 0
Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert [Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer]. 1889.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Frederick. Twilight of the Idols and the Anti-Christ: or How to Philosophize with a Hammer, translated by Walter Kaufman and R. J. Hollingdale. Penguin Classics, 1990.

Another quote of the following type Metaphor, analogy and simile

Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Read The Social Contract at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Freedom Liberation The human condition

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Source
The Social Contract
Genre
Political literature Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
French
Time
1762 1760s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique [On the Social Contract or Principles of Political Law]. Amsterdam: Marc Michel Rey, 1762, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "Of the Social Contract." Of the Social Contract and Other Political Writings, translated by Quintin Hoare. Penguin Classics, 2012, bk. 1, ch. 1.