The Trial

by Franz Kafka

K. was living in a free country, after all, everywhere was at peace, all laws were decent and were upheld, who was it who dared accost him in his own home? He was always inclined to take life as lightly as he could, to cross bridges when he came to them, pay no heed for the future, even when everything seemed under threat.

I only know the lowest grades, don’t go out looking for guilt among the public; it’s the guilt that draws them out, like it says in the law, and they have to send us police officers out.

They’re talking about things of which they don’t have the slightest understanding, anyway. It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves.

It would have been so pointless to kill himself that, even if he had wanted to, the pointlessness would have made him unable.

Why worry about myself about killing when I will end up dying (Bicycle Thieves)

Once order had been restored, every trace of those events would have been erased and everything would take its previous course once more.

the court is attracted by the guilt,

As he went up he disturbed a large group of children playing on the stairs who looked at him as he stepped through their rows. “Next time I come here,” he said to himself, “I must either bring sweets with me to make them like me or a stick to hit them with.”

You will be quite right, as there are proceedings only if I acknowledge that there are.

“None of this concerns me, and I am therefore able to make a calm assessment of it,

How are we to avoid those in office becoming deeply corrupt when everything is devoid of meaning?

Don’t say any more about what danger I’m in, I only fear danger where I want to fear it.

Franz had not screamed like that—clearly it must have caused a great deal of pain but it’s important to maintain control of oneself at important moments—

‘Having a trial like that means losing a trial like that’.”

Big, strong girls like that often don’t know how to be anything but gentle and friendly.

defence is not really allowed under the law, it’s only tolerated,

The only things of real value are honest personal contacts, contacts with higher officials, albeit higher officials of the lower grades, you understand.

There is a story, for instance, that has very much the ring of truth about it. It goes like this: One of the older officials, a good and peaceful man, was dealing with a difficult matter for the court which had become very confused, especially thanks to the contributions from the lawyers. He had been studying it for a day and a night without a break—as these officials are indeed hard working, no-one works as hard as they do. When it was nearly morning, and he had been working for twenty-four hours with probably very little result, he went to the front entrance, waited there in ambush, and every time a lawyer tried to enter the building he would throw him down the steps. The lawyers gathered together down in front of the steps and discussed with each other what they should do; on the one hand they had actually no right to be allowed into the building so that there was hardly anything that they could legally do to the official and, as I’ve already mentioned, they would have to be careful not to set all the officials against them. On the other hand, any day not spent in court is a day lost for them and it was a matter of some importance to force their way inside. In the end, they agreed that they would try to tire the old man out. One lawyer after another was sent out to run up the steps and let himself be thrown down again, offering what resistance he could as long as it was passive resistance, and his colleagues would catch him at the bottom of the steps. That went on for a...

The only right thing to do is to learn how to deal with the situation as it is.

Never attract attention to yourself! Stay calm, however much it goes against your character!

It doesn’t do much good to make accusations, especially if you can’t make it clear what they’re based on

It’s sometimes quite astonishing that a single, average life is enough to encompass so much that it’s at all possible ever to have any success in one’s work here.

Above all, he could not stop half way, that was nonsense not only in business but always and everywhere.

But he hoped rumours had not reached as far as the deputy director, otherwise he would obviously soon find a way of making use of it to harm K., he would show neither comradeship nor humaneness.

“I can’t deal with him right now,” K. said to himself, “but once my personal difficulties have been settled, then he’ll certainly be the first to get the effect of it, and he certainly won’t like it.” Slightly calmed by these thoughts,

“Justice needs to remain still, otherwise the scales will move about and it won’t be possible to make a just verdict.”

“Well, everything belongs to the court.” “That is something I had never noticed until now,” said K.

“You did say yourself not long ago that it’s quite impossible to go to the court with reasons and proofs.” “Only impossible for reasons and proofs you take to the court yourself” said the painter,

If you’re under suspicion it’s better to be moving than still, as if you’re still you can be in the pan of the scales without knowing it and be weighed along with your sins.”

“but not always. Women have a lot of power. If I could persuade some of the women, I know to work together with me then I would be certain to succeed.

“it talks about this self-deceit in the opening paragraphs to the law. In front of the law there is a doorkeeper. A man from the countryside comes up to the door and asks for entry. But the doorkeeper says he can’t let him in to the law right now. The man thinks about this, and then he asks if he’ll be able to go in later on. ‘That’s possible,’ says the doorkeeper, ‘but not now’. The gateway to the law is open as it always is, and the doorkeeper has stepped to one side, so the man bends over to try and see in. When the doorkeeper notices this he laughs and says, ‘If you’re tempted give it a try, try and go in even though I say you can’t. Careful though: I’m powerful. And I’m only the lowliest of all the doormen. But there’s a doorkeeper for each of the rooms and each of them is more powerful than the last. It’s more than I can stand just to look at the third one.’ The man from the country had not expected difficulties like this, the law was supposed to be accessible for anyone at any time, he thinks, but now he looks more closely at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, sees his big hooked nose, his long thin tartar-beard, and he decides it’s better to wait until he has permission to enter. The doorkeeper gives him a stool and lets him sit down to one side of the gate. He sits there for days and years. He tries to be allowed in time and again and tires the doorkeeper with his requests. The doorkeeper often questions him, asking about where he’s from and many other things, but th...

‘I’ll only accept this so that you don’t think there’s anything you’ve failed to do,’

Above all, the free man is superior to the man who has to serve another.

“you don’t need to accept everything as true, you only have to accept it as necessary.” “Depressing view,” said K. “The lie made into the rule of the world.”

“the only thing I can do now is keep my common sense and do what’s needed right till the end. I always wanted to go at the world and try and do too much, and even to do it for something that was not too cheap. That was wrong of me.