Book 1; On the necessity of standards
Mozi
“Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.”
First lines, Ch. 1
Variant translation: Somebody must have slandered Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.
Source: The Trial (1920)
Context: Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning. His landlady's cook, who always brought him his breakfast at eight o'clock, failed to appear on this occasion. That had never happened before.
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Franz Kafka 266
author 1883–1924Related quotes

Campaign statement in Fresno, California (10 September 1952); earlier incidence of similar comments exist:
If Mr. Hughes will stop lying about me, I will stop telling the truth about him.
William Randolph Hearst, about Charles Evans Hughes, in 1906, as quoted in The Quote Verifier : Who Said What, Where, and When (2006) by Ralph Keyes
If you will refrain from telling any lies about the Republican Party, I'lll promise not to tell the truth about the Democrats.
Chauncey Depew, as quoted in "If Elected I Promise … "Stories and Gems of Wisdom by and About Politicians (1969) by John F. Parker

“If He had been Antichrist, Creeping Jesus,
He’d have done anything to please us”
The Everlasting Gospel (c. 1818)
Context: If He had been Antichrist, Creeping Jesus,
He’d have done anything to please us;
Gone sneaking into synagogues,
And not us’d the Elders and Priests like dogs;
But humble as a lamb or ass
Obey’d Himself to Caiaphas.

“I have been quite put out of temper this morning and someone ought to die for it.”
Source: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“I have never been convinced there's anything inherently wrong in having fun.”

The Other World (1657)

“Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine.”
La solitude est certainement une belle chose, mais il y a plaisir d'avoir quelqu'un qui sache répondre, à qui on puisse dire de temps en temps, que c'est un belle chose. (Solitude is certainly a fine thing; but there is pleasure in having someone who can answer, from time to time, that it is a fine thing.) —Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, Dissertations chrétiennes et morales (1665), XVIII: "Les plaisirs de la vie retirée".
Misattributed

“Someone's parents have been singing entirely the wrong sort of songs.”
Source: The Name of the Wind