The Trial Quotes

Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from The Trial.

Power Quotes

[H]e realized at once that he shouldn't have spoken aloud, and that by doing so he had, in a sense, acknowledged the stranger's right to oversee his actions (1.1)

Justice and Judgment Quotes

After all, our department, as far as I know, and I know only the lowest level, doesn't seek out guilt among the general population, but, as the Law states, is attracted by guilt and has to send us...

Sex Quotes

I'm fascinated with court matters. The court has a strange attraction, doesn't it? But I'll certainly increase my knowledge in that area, because I start next month as a secretary in a law firm. (2...

Society and Class Quotes

You're under arrest all right, but not the way a thief would be. If you're arrested like a thief, that's bad, but this arrest ---. It seems like something scholarly, I'm sorry if that sounds stupid...

Isolation Quotes

And you should talk less in general; almost everything you've said up to now could have been inferred from your behavior, even if you'd said only a few words, and it wasn't terribly favorable to yo...

Life, Consciousness, and Existence Quotes

The unexpected question, however, confused the man, which was even more embarrassing since he was obviously a man of the world, who would certainly have retained his self-confidence elsewhere, and...

Philosophical Viewpoints Quotes

[I]f I'd behaved sensibly, nothing more would have happened, everything else would have been nipped in the bud. (2.5)

Art and Culture Quotes

Fraülein Bürstner, laughing as she listened, held her finger to her lips to keep K. from yelling, but it was too late, K. had entered too deeply into his role: "Josef K.!" he cried (2.10)