(18 October 1921)
The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1923 (1948)
Context: Eternal childhood. Life calls again.
It is entirely conceivable that life’s splendour forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come. This is the essence of magic, which does not create but summons.
“We can't communicate the incommuunicable,
we can't explain the inconceivable,
life's fullness forever lies in wait about each one of us,
and the lonely emptiness of existence is permanent,
but a star deep in our heart lead us the way home.”
Related quotes
"Kevin Malone", New Terrors (1980), ed. Ramsey Campbell, Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Endangered Species (1989), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)
Fiction
"Wild Things" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De30ET0dQpQ, Know-It-All (2015), New York: Def Jam Recordings
As quoted in "Michael Jackson: Elizabeth Taylor Honors her good friend" by Dave Karger, Entertainment Weekly (26 June 2009)
We Danced, written by Brad Paisley and Chris DuBois.
Song lyrics, Who Needs Pictures (1999)