Franz Kafka

From The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1913

Chapter: My Education Has Done Me Great Harm

“This imperfection is not congenital and therefore so much the more painful to bear. For like everyone, I too have my center of gravity inside me from birth, and this not even the most foolish education could displace. This good center of gravity I still have, but to a certain extent I no longer have the corresponding body. And a center of gravity that has no work to do becomes lead, and sticks in the body like a musket ball. But this imperfection is not earned either, I have suffered its emergence through no fault of my own. This is why I can find nowhere within myself any repentance, much as I may seek it. For repentance would be good for me, it cries itself out all by itself, it takes the pain to one side and settles everything alone like an affair of honor, we main upright because it relieves us.”