quote · Words worth keeping
I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell about something I only feel in my bones and which can only be experienced in those bones. Basically it is nothing other than this fear we have so often talked about, but fear spread to everything, fear of the greatest as of the smallest, fear, paralyzing fear of pronouncing a word, although this fear may not only be fear but also a longing for something greater than all that is fearful.
I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell about something I only feel in my bones and which can only be experienced in those bones. Basically it is nothing other than this fear we have so often talked about, but fear spread to everything, fear of the greatest as of the smallest, fear, paralyzing fear of pronouncing a word, although this fear may not only be fear but also a longing for something greater than all that is fearful.
Approximate historical placement: c. 1903 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Franz Kafka
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate historical placement: c. 1903 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1883 to 1924; Wikidata Q905, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q905 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
An author lifetime or approximate period is not necessarily the date when these words were written or spoken. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided quotation collection
Supplied reference C; CSV row 66660; supplied attribution, independently unverified
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
