“Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
— Franz Kafka
This quote is widely attributed to Kafka through his letters and conversations with Max Brod, his closest friend and literary executor. It reflects Kafka's belief in artistic authenticity over commercial or social approval, a principle he lived by throughout his career.
I spent my whole life writing in a language my family did not read, about feelings my father could not understand. I worked as an insurance clerk during the day and wrote through the night because the words had to come out. Most of what I wrote, I burned. What survived, I told my friend Max to destroy after I died. He did not listen. And because he did not listen, you are reading this now. The lesson is simple: create honestly, even when no one is watching, especially when no one is watching.