"In general I lacked principally the ability to provide even in the slightest detail for the real future. I thought only of things in the present and their present condition, not because of thoroughness or any special, strong interest, but rather, to the extent that weakness in thinking was not the cause, because of sorrow and fear – sorrow, because the present was so sad for me that I thought I could not leave it before it resolved itself into happiness; fear, because, like my fear of the slightest action in the present, I also considered myself, in view of my contemptible, childish appearance, unworthy of forming a serious, responsible opinion of the great, manly future which usually seemed so impossible to me that every short step forward appeared to me to be counterfeit and the next step unattainable."

Impossible Fear Sorrow Future

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About Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a German-language writer from Prague whose fiction explored bureaucracy, alienation, and existential anxiety. Major works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. His posthumously published novels and stories made him one of the defining writers of the 20th century.

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