Inspector Grubach: Kafka. Kafka, Kafka... Is that your real name?

Franz Kafka: Yes. W-why shouldn't it be?
Oscar: It's not too bad working here, though.

Franz Kafka: You've never felt it was a horrible double life, from which there was probably no escape but insanity?

Ludwig: Yes!

Oscar: No.

Ludwig: No.
Franz Kafka: So, that's who the enemy is. Policemen and file clerks. Law and order, you might say.

Gabriela: You think what we're doing is wrong? What would you suggest, then?

Franz Kafka: Did any of you actually go up to the castle with Edward? You sit around twisting the facts to suit your inbred theories. In my experience the truth is not... that convenient.
Chief Clerk: Oh, I know you were friendly with that poor fellow, what was his name -

Franz Kafka: Raban... Eduard Raban.

Chief Clerk: Yes, yes, Raban. But he was too like you. Even more like you, perhaps, than you are yourself.
Doctor Murnau: A crowd is easier to control than an individual. A crowd has a common purpose. The purpose of the individual is always in question.

Franz 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*, *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?
Burgel: [sarcastically, as Franz shows up for work] But Kafka, you're... on time!
Chief Clerk: Kafka... I understand you fancy yourself as a writer.

Franz Kafka: [shrugs] In a small way.

Chief Clerk: You should find a more... athletic hobby. Put some color in your cheeks.
Franz Kafka: I write by myself... for myself.
Oscar: [to Kafka] Miss Rossman was here looking for you.

Ludwig: Gabriela.

Oscar: Do you know her?

Franz Kafka: Do you?

Oscar: Well, we saw her naked once.
Doctor Murnau: 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.
Youthful Anarchist: [discussing Kafka] 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.
Gabriela: And you believe everything the authorities tell you?

Franz Kafka: Well, I have no reason to doubt.

Gabriela: They're authorities! That's reason enough.
Gabriela: If I waited for you to understand, it would be too late.
Franz 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?
Oscar: Going back to your Burrow?

Kafka Quotes

Extended Reading

Kafka short comments

Keegan 2022-04-20 09:02:56

The protagonist is too important, and having such an actor can improve the quality of the film.
Abe 2022-04-22 07:01:58

Little People, Company Staff, Castles, Graves, Mind Control Authority, Murder, Dossier: The World of Kafka. Soderbergh's understanding of Kafka is rather impatient in the colored section. Shots, composition, camera movement are all pretty good, Soderbergh.