The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Books2 quotes
A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. — Franz Kafka · 1904I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. — Franz Kafka · 1904Connecting with others2 quotes
Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1901Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1929Love2 quotes
Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1929Love is to me that you are the knife which I turn within myself. — Franz Kafka · 1920Relationships2 quotes
We need in love to practice only this:
Letting each other go. For holding on
Comes easily; we do not need to learn it. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1909I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1902Solitude2 quotes
Love your solitude and bear with sweet-sounding lamentation the suffering it causes you. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1929I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1902Alienation1 quote
When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. — Franz Kafka · 1915Alienation from oneself1 quote
When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. — Franz Kafka · 1915Art1 quote
A work of art is good if it has grown out of necessity. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1929Change1 quote
When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. — Franz Kafka · 1915Courage1 quote
You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then when you have the chance to do it better refuse to go near it. — Vaclav Havel · 2007Dangers of love1 quote
Love is to me that you are the knife which I turn within myself. — Franz Kafka · 1920Death1 quote
Death is the side of life which is turned away from us. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1925Fate1 quote
People have already had to rethink so many concepts of motion, and they will also gradually come to realize that what we call fate does not come into us from the outside, but emerges from us. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1929Fear1 quote
Who has not sat nervously before the stage curtain of his heart? — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1923Independence1 quote
I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1902Introspection1 quote
Who has not sat nervously before the stage curtain of his heart? — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1923Letting go1 quote
We need in love to practice only this:
Letting each other go. For holding on
Comes easily; we do not need to learn it. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1909Marriage1 quote
A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1901Modern life1 quote
The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less. — Vaclav Havel · 1983Mystery of death1 quote
Death is the side of life which is turned away from us. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1925Nature of love1 quote
Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other. — Rainer Maria Rilke · 1929Nature of truth1 quote
Truth is not merely what we are thinking, but also why, to whom, and under what circumstances we say it. — Vaclav Havel · 1985Paying attention1 quote
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. — Franz Kafka · 1931Political courage1 quote
You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then when you have the chance to do it better refuse to go near it. — Vaclav Havel · 2007Political progress1 quote
You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then when you have the chance to do it better refuse to go near it. — Vaclav Havel · 2007Politics1 quote
You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then when you have the chance to do it better refuse to go near it. — Vaclav Havel · 2007Power of literature1 quote
A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. — Franz Kafka · 1904Progress1 quote
You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then when you have the chance to do it better refuse to go near it. — Vaclav Havel · 2007Self-discovery1 quote
A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. — Franz Kafka · 1904Stillness1 quote
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. — Franz Kafka · 1931