“The first worship of idols was certainly fear of the things in the world, but, connected with this, fear of the necessity of the things, and, connected with this, fear of responsibility for the things.”
92
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)
Context: The first worship of idols was certainly fear of the things in the world, but, connected with this, fear of the necessity of the things, and, connected with this, fear of responsibility for the things. So tremendous did this responsibility appear that people did not even dare to impose it upon one single extra-human entity, for even the mediation of one being would not have sufficiently lightened human responsibility, intercourse with only one being would still have been all too deeply tainted with responsibility, and that is why each things was given the responsibility for itself, more indeed, these things were also given a degree of responsibility for man.
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Franz Kafka 266
author 1883–1924Related quotes
“The thing I fear most is fear.”
C'est de quoi j'ai le plus de peur que la peur.
Book I, ch, 18
Essais (1595), Book I
Source: The Complete Essays
“Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”
“Men out of fear will cling to the thing they most fear.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XX Humorous Writings
“Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain.”
“I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do…”