Vrijeme koje vam je dodijeljeno toliko je kratko da ako izgubite i sekundu, već ste izgubili cijeli život, jer on nije više, uvijek je dug kao vrijeme koje ste izgubili. Dakle, ako ste počeli hodati, nastavite bez obzira na sve; možete samo pobijediti, ne riskirate. Na kraju biste mogli pasti s litice, ali da ste se okrenuli nakon prvih koraka i potrčali niz stepenice, pali biste odmah; i ne možda, nego sigurno. Dakle, ako ne nađete ništa u hodnicima, otvorite vrata; ako ne nađete ništa iza ovih vrata, ima još katova, a ako ne nađete ništa gore, ne brinite, samo se popnite još jednim stepenicama. Dokle god se penjete, stepenice nikada neće završiti; pod vašim nogama, one će nastaviti rasti prema gore.

— iz Odvjetnika, F. Kafka.

The time allotted to you is so short that if you lose one second you have already lost your whole life, for it is no longer, it is always just as long as the time you lost. So if you have started out on a walk, continue it whatever happens; you can only gain, you run no risk, in the end you may fall over a precipice perhaps, but had you turned back after the first steps and run downstairs you would have fallen at once—and not perhaps, but for certain. So if you find nothing in the corridors open the doors, if you find nothing behind these doors there are more floors, and if you find nothing up there, don't worry, just leap up another flight of stairs. As long as you don't stop climbing, the stairs won't end, under your climbing feet they will go growing upwards.

— from Advocates, by F. Kafka.