Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk Quotes

“An und für sich ist uns das Lachen immer nah; trotz allem Jammer unseres Lebens ist ein leises Lachen bei uns gewissermaßen immer zu Hause.”
― Franz Kafka, Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

“It is truly no feat to crack a nut, and therefore no one would think to gather an audience for the purpose of entertaining them with nutcracking. But if he should do so, and if he should succeed in his aim, then it cannot be a matter of mere nutcracking. Or alternatively, it is a matter of nutcracking, but as it turns out we have overlooked the art of nutcracking because we were so proficient at it that it is this new nutcracker who is the first to demonstrate what it actually entails, whereby it could be even more effective if he were less expert in nutcracking than the majority of us.”
― Franz Kafka, Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

“In her opinion her singing falls on deaf ears anyway; there is no lack of enthusiasm and applause, but she has long since given up hope of genuine understanding as she conceives it.”
― Franz Kafka, Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

“Meanwhile, the majority of the audience- this is plain to see- has retreated into itself. Here in these brief gaps between their troubles our people dream; it is as if the limbs of each were loosened, as if every last uneasy individual were for once allowed to stretch out and relax freely in the great warm bed of the people.”
― Franz Kafka, Josefina la cantora o El pueblo de los ratones

“We are not in general a music-loving race. Tranquil peace is the music we love best; our life is hard, we are no longer able, even on occasions when we have tried to shake off the cares of daily life, to rise to anything so high and remote from our usual routine as music.”
― Franz Kafka, Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

“... sometimes a thousand shoulders quake under a burden meant just for one.”
― Franz Kafka, Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk