“Kafka” quotes

“I write by myself... for myself.”
Jeremy Irons - Kafka

“- Gabriela: You believe everything the authorities tell you?
- Kafka: Well, I have no reason to doubt.
- Gabriela: They're authorities! That's reason enough.”
Theresa Russell - Gabriela
Jeremy Irons - Kafka

“- Youthful Anarchist: How much have you told him?
- Gabriela: He's a clerk; he knows nothing.
- Mustachioed Anarchist: Eduard said he's a writer.
- Youthful Anarchist: That could be useful.
- Female Anarchist: That could be dangerous.”

Toon Agterberg - Youthful Anarchist
Theresa Russell - Gabriela
Jan Nemejovský - Mustachioed Anarchist
Hilde Van Mieghem - Female Anarchist

“- Assistant Oscar: Do you know her?
- Kafka: Do you?
- Assistant Oscar: Well, we saw her naked once.”

Simon McBurney - Assistant Oscar
Jeremy Irons - Kafka

“That's who the enemy is. Policemen and file clerks. Law and order, you might say.”
Jeremy Irons - Kafka

“You despise someone like me because you despise the modern. But you are at the very forefront of what is modern. You write about it, you document it... Unlike you, though, I have chosen to embrace it.”

Sir Ian Holm - Doctor Murnau

“If I waited for you to understand, it would be too late.”

Theresa Russell - Gabriela

“- Kafka: When a document is sent to the Medical Records Division, is it possible to recall it for a view?
- The Keeper of the Files: Of course not. Who'd want to let in a bunch of riff-raff off the street?”
Jeremy Irons - Kafka
Robert Flemyng - The Keeper of the Files

“- The Chief Clerk: Kafka... I understand you fancy yourself as a writer.
- Kafka: In a small way.
- The Chief Clerk: You should find a more... athletic hobby. Put some color in your cheeks.”
Alec Guinness - The Chief Clerk
Jeremy Irons - Kafka

“In my experience the truth is not... that convenient.”
Jeremy Irons - Kafka

“- Kafka: That's what you're trying to eliminate, isn't it? Everything that makes one human being different from another. But you'll never reach a man's soul through a lens.
- Doctor Murnau: That rather depends on which end of the microscope you're on, doesn't it?”
Jeremy Irons - Kafka
Sir Ian Holm - Doctor Murnau

“- Grubach: Kafka. Kafka, Kafka... Is that your real name?
- Kafka: Yes. W-why shouldn't it be?”
Armin Mueller-Stahl - Grubach
Jeremy Irons - Kafka

“A crowd is easier to control than an individual. A crowd has a common purpose. The purpose of the individual is always in question.”
Sir Ian Holm - Doctor Murnau