“There they lay, but not in the forgetfulness of the previous night. She was seeking and he was seeking, they raged and contorted their faces and bored their heads into each others bosom in the urgency of seeking something, and their embraces and their tossing limbs did not avail to make them forget, but only reminded them of what they sought”

“Everyone strives to attain the Law,' answers the man, 'how does it come about, then, that in all these years no one has come seeking admittance but me?' The doorkeeper perceives that the man is nearing his end and his hearing is failing, so he bellows in his ear: 'No one but you could gain admittance through this door, since this door was intended for you. I am now going to shut it.”

“The books were oldand well worn, the cover of one of them had nearly broken through in itsmiddle, and it was held together with a few threads. "Everything is sodirty here," said K., shaking his head, and before he could pick thebooks up the woman wiped some of the dust off with her apron. K. tookhold of the book that lay on top and threw it open, an indecent pictureappeared. A man and a woman sat naked on a sofa, the base intent ofwhoever drew it was easy to see but he had been so grossly lacking inskill that all that anyone could really make out were the man and thewoman who dominated the picture with their bodies, sitting in overlyupright postures that created a false perspective and made it difficultfor them to approach each other. K. didn't thumb through that book anymore, but just threw open the next one at its title page, it was a novelwith the title, What Grete Suffered from her Husband, Hans. "So this isthe sort of law book they study here," said K., "this is the sort ofperson sitting in judgement over me.”

“When I meet a pretty girl and beg her: "Be so good as to come with me," and she walks past without a word, this is what she means to say:"You are no Duke with a famous name, no broad American with Red Indian figure, level, brooding eyes and a skin tempered by the air of the prairies and the rivers that flow through them, you have never journeyed to the seven seas and voyaged on them wherever they may be, I don't know where. So why, pray, should a pretty girl like myself go with you?""You forget that no automobile swings you through the street in long thrusts; I see no gentlemen escorting you in a close half-circle, pressing on your skirts from behind and murmuring blessings on your head; your breasts are well laced into your bodice, but your thighs and hips make up for that restraint; you are wearing a taffeta dress with a pleated skirt such as delighted all of us last autumn, and yet you smile-inviting mortal danger-from time to time.""Yes, we're both in the right, and to keep us from being irrevocably aware of it, hadn't we better just go our separate ways home?”

“As he went up he disturbed a large group of children playing on the stairs who looked at him as he stepped through their rows. "Next time I come here," he said to himself, "I must either bring sweets with me to make them like me or a stick to hit them with.”

“He has two antagonists: the first presses him from behind, from the origin. The second blocks the road ahead. He gives battle to both. To be sure, the first supports him in his fight with the second, for he wants to push him forward, and in the same way the second supports him in his fight with the first, since he drives him back. But it is only theoretically so. For it is not only the two antagonists who are there, but he himself as well, and who really knows his intentions? His dream, though, is that some time in an unguarded moment and this would require a night darker than any night has ever been yet he will jump out of the fighting line and be promoted, on account of his experience in fighting, to the position of umpire over his antagonists in their fight with each other.”

“Anyway, it’s best not to think about them, as if you do it makes the discussions with the other lawyers, all their advice and all that they do manage to achieve, seem so unpleasant and useless, I had that experience myself, just wanted to throw everything away and lay at home in bed and hear nothing more about it. But that, of course, would be the stupidest thing you could do, and you wouldn’t be left in peace in bed for very long either.”