“Previously I did not understand why I got no answer to my question; today I do not understand how I could believe I was capable of asking. But I didn’t really believe, I only asked.”

— Franz Kafka , book The Zürau Aphorisms

36
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Previously I did not understand why I got no answer to my question; today I do not understand how I could believe I was…" by Franz Kafka?

Franz Kafka 266

author 1883–1924

Related quotes

“There's no point in asking why, even though everybody will. I know why. The harder question is "why not?" I can't believe she ran out of answers before I did.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“I learn by doing, but each time I don’t understand, I will ask… If I don’t understand, I don’t feel ashamed to ask questions.”

Sukanto Tanoto (1949) Indonesian businessman

Keynote speech, Wharton Global Modular Course, May 25, 2015. http://www.inside-rge.com/Sukanto-Tanoto-Entrepreneur-Journey-1
2015

“Life is full of questions, and we are free to ask them, to understand, occasionally, that we are not going to get an answer, or at least not the answer we expect, and then we are called to move on. But I believe that God encourages us to ask questions.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

The Rock that Is Higher (1993)

“Yes, I'm a practising Muslim, but I don't understand why only I'm asked about my religion. Everyone's got a religion out there. I wonder why no one else is asked about it.”

Sania Mirza (1986) Indian tennis player

About her religion becoming an issue every time she plays
India's most wanted

“I do not understand! I understand nothing! I cannot understand nor do I want to understand! I want to believe! To Believe!”

Jean Paul Sartre book The Devil and the Good Lord

Act 1
The Devil and the Good Lord (1951)

“I said I didn’t want to run for president. I didn’t ask you to believe me.”

Mario Cuomo (1932–2015) American politician, Governor of New York

New York Times (12 February 1985)

“I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.”

Ralph Ellison book Invisible Man

Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 1.
Context: All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.