“Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate — he has little success in this — but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins, for he sees different (and more) things than do the others; after all, dead as he is in his own lifetime, he is the real survivor. This assumes that he does not need both hands, or more hands than he has, in his struggle against despair.”
19 October 1921
The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1923 (1948)
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Franz Kafka 266
author 1883–1924Related quotes

Source: Decent and Indecent: Our Personal and Political Behavior (1970), p. 13

This quote was actually composed by Louis Nizer, and published in his book, Between You and Me (1948).
Misattributed
Variant: He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

“Is he alone who has courage on his right hand and faith on his left hand?”
As quoted in 1927 (2000) by Robert P. Fitton

07-Nov-2007, Hull City OWS
No comment.

“All he needed was a wheel in his hand and four on the road.”
Source: On the Road: the Original Scroll

The Scholars (c. 1750), Chapter 3 http://ctext.org/text.pl?node=566382&if=en&remap=gb (trans. Gladys Yang)