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About this quote

What does it mean?
The court accepts you passively when you arrive and rejects you when you leave, showing indifference to your presence.
In plain terms
The court accepts you when you come and leaves you when you go.
What can you take from it?
Recognize that institutions may be indifferent to your individual journey.

Where it applies

  • dealing with bureaucracy
  • seeking validation from authority
  • feeling unnoticed

Putting it to work

  • expect neutrality from systems
  • do not seek approval from indifferent authorities

Questions to consider

  • How do you handle indifference?
  • What does acceptance mean to you?

Another view

This view might overlook moments where authorities genuinely care or act.

More from Franz Kafka

  1. We are sinful not merely because we have eaten of the tree of knowledge, but also because we have not eaten of the tree of life.

    Permalink to quote #115

  2. What have I in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself.

    Permalink to quote #117

  3. We are as forlorn as children lost in the wood. When you stand in front of me an look at me, what do you know of the grief's that are in me and what do I know …

    Permalink to quote #114

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