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About this quote

What does it mean?
Truth cannot be fully understood by those who seek to recognize it as it requires becoming something false.
In plain terms
To see truth you must accept you are a lie.
What can you take from it?
Acknowledging flaws is necessary to approach truth.

Where it applies

  • philosophical debate
  • moral reflection
  • self-analysis

Putting it to work

  • question your assumptions
  • accept imperfection

Questions to consider

  • Is perfect truth possible?
  • How do you see reality?

Another view

One can recognize truth without lying.

More from Franz Kafka

  1. Sensual love deceives one as to the nature of heavenly love; it could not do so alone, but since it unconsciously has the element of heavenly love within it, i…

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  2. Why do we complain about the Fall? It is not on its account that we were expelled from Paradise, but on account of the Tree of Life, lest we might eat of it.

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  3. Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.

    Permalink to quote #42

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