‘Letters to Milena’ is a book that collects some of Franz Kafka’s letters to Milena Jesenská from years 1920 to 1923.
Kafka was a Prague-born writer who wrote in German and is well-known for his novels such as “The Metamorphosis” and posthumously published novels including The Trial.
The letters are an intimate window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century’s most prophetic and influential writers.
We have handpicked some of the top quotes from Letters to Milena.
Table of Contents
Letters to Milena Quotes by Franz Kafka
“If I could drown in sleep as I drown in fear I would be no longer alive.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I’m tired, can’t think of anything and want only to lay my face in your lap, feel your hand on my head and remain like that through all eternity.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“Nor is it perhaps really love when I say that for me you are the most beloved; In this love you are like a knife, with which I explore myself.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“But what shall I do when instead of a heart this fear is beating in my body?” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“Sleep is the most innocent creature there is and a sleepless man the most guilty.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“For myself I am too heavy, and for you too light.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I miss you deeply, unfathomably, senselessly, terribly.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“When one is alone, imperfection must be endured every minute of the day.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
Other Books Quotes: Miracle in the Andes Quotes by Nando Parrado and The Best of Me Quotes by Nicholas Sparks
Best Letters to Milena Quotes by Franz Kafka
“You are so vulnerably haunting; Your eeriness is terrifyingly irresistible.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“And don’t demand any sincerity from me, Milena. No one can demand it from me more than I myself and yet many things elude me, I’m sure, perhaps everything eludes me.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I can’t think of anything to write about, I’m just walking around here between the lines, under the light of your eyes, in the breadth of your mouth as in a beautiful happy day, which remains beautiful and happy, even when the head is sick and tired.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I long for you; I who usually longs without longing, as though I am unconscious and absorbed in neutrality and apathy, really, utterly long for every bit of you.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“Rolling country, not yet quite mountainous, with woods and lakes, is what I like best.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“It seems to be a fact that man, tortured by his demons, avenges himself blindly on his fellow-man.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
Quotes from Letters to Milena
“Milena who is constantly discovering in herself that the only way to save another person is by being there and nothing else.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“You are the knife I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I always succeed in not being jealous but only sometimes in comprehending the pointlessness of jealousy.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“If I could drown in sleep as I drown in fear, I would be no longer alive.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“Go on caring for me.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I was reading my destiny inside your eyes without knowing it.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
Famous Letters to Milena Quotes
“I am always trying to convey something that can’t be conveyed, to explain something which is inexplicable, to tell about something I have in my bones, something which can be expressed only in the bones.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I can’t feel a thing; All mournful petal storms are dancing inside the very private spring of my head.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I’m doing badly, I’m doing well, whichever you prefer.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I have spent all my life resisting the desire to end it.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“It was like this. the brain could no longer bear the worries and pains that were imposed on it. it said: “I’m giving up; but if there is anyone else here who is interested in preserving the whole, let him assume part of my burden and it will be alright for a bit.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I’m thinking only of my illness and my health, though both, the first as well as the second, are you.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
Top Letters to Milena Quotes by Franz Kafka
“Written kisses don’t reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“If you come to me you will be leaping into the abyss.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I want in fact more of you. In my mind I am dressing you with light; I am wrapping you up in blankets of complete acceptance and then I give myself to you. I long for you; I who usually long without longing, as though I am unconscious and absorbed in neutrality and apathy, really, utterly long for every bit of you.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“In a way, you are poetry material; You are full of cloudy subtleties I am willing to spend a lifetime figuring out. Words burst in your essence and you carry their dust in the pores of your ethereal individuality.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I am dirty, Milena, endlessly dirty, that is why I make such a fuss about cleanliness. None sing as purely as those in deepest hell; it is their singing we take for the singing of angels.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“It occurs to me that I really can’t remember your face in any precise detail. Only the way you walked away through the tables in the café, your figure, your dress, that I still see.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“I’m on such a dangerous road, Milena. You’re standing firmly near a tree, young, beautiful, your eyes subduing with their radiance the suffering world.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“Either the world is so tiny or we are so enormous, in any case we fill it completely.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
“Do you know, darling? When you became involved with others you quite possibly stepped down a level or two, but If you become involved with me, you will be throwing yourself into the abyss.” ~ Franz Kafka (Letters to Milena).
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