• Variant translations:
• Oh, plenty of hope, an infinite amount of hope — but not for us.
• As translated in Weimar Intellectuals and the Threat of Modernity (1988) by Dagmar Barnouw, p. 187
• First appeared in Brod, Max. "Der Dichter Franz Kafka." Die neue Rundschau 11 (1921): 1210-1216.
• Ich erinnere mich eines Gesprächs mit Kafka, das vom heutigen Europa und dem Verfall der Menschheit ausging.“ Wir sind“, so sagte er, „ nihilistische Gedanken, Selbstmordgedanken, die in Gottes Kopf aufsteigen“. Mich erinnerte das zuerst an das Weltbild der Gnosis: Gott als böser Demiurg, die Welt sein Sündenfall. „O nein,“ meinte er, „unsere Welt ist nur eine schlechte Laune Gottes, ein schlechter Tag.“ — „So gäbe es außerhalb dieser Erscheinungsform Welt, die wir kennen, Hoffnung?“ — Er lächelte: „Oh, Hoffnung genug, unendlich viel Hoffnung, — nur nicht für uns.“
• I remember a conversation with Kafka that started with today's Europe and the decline of humanity. "We are," he said, "nihilistic thoughts, suicidal thoughts that rise up in God's head." At first, that reminded me of the world view of Gnosticism: God as an evil demiurge, the world as his fall from grace. "Oh no," he said, "our world is just a bad mood of God, a bad day." - "So is there hope outside of this manifestation of the world that we know?" - He smiled: "Oh, hope enough, infinite hope - just not for us."
Plenty of hope — for God — no end of hope — only not for us.
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Plenty of hope — for God — no end of hope — only not for us." in the context of "In conversation with Max Brod (1920), after Brod had queried on there being "hope outside this manifestation of the world that we know", as quoted in Franz Kafka: A Biography [Franz Kafka, eine Biographie] (1937) by Max Brod, as translated by G. Humphreys Roberts and Richard Winston (1947; 1960); at least as early as Franz Kafka : Parable and Paradox (1962) by Heinz Politzer, this assertion has often appeared paraphrased as: "There is hope, but not for us", and sometimes "There is hope — only not for us."
• Variant translations:
• Oh, plenty of hope, an infinite amount of hope — but not for us.
• As translated in Weimar Intellectuals and the Threat of Modernity (1988) by Dagmar Barnouw, p. 187
• First appeared in Brod, Max. "Der Dichter Franz Kafka." Die neue Rundschau 11 (1921): 1210-1216.
• Ich erinnere mich eines Gesprächs mit Kafka, das vom heutigen Europa und dem Verfall der Menschheit ausging.“ Wir sind“, so sagte er, „ nihilistische Gedanken, Selbstmordgedanken, die in Gottes Kopf aufsteigen“. Mich erinnerte das zuerst an das Weltbild der Gnosis: Gott als böser Demiurg, die Welt sein Sündenfall. „O nein,“ meinte er, „unsere Welt ist nur eine schlechte Laune Gottes, ein schlechter Tag.“ — „So gäbe es außerhalb dieser Erscheinungsform Welt, die wir kennen, Hoffnung?“ — Er lächelte: „Oh, Hoffnung genug, unendlich viel Hoffnung, — nur nicht für uns.“
• I remember a conversation with Kafka that started with today's Europe and the decline of humanity. "We are," he said, "nihilistic thoughts, suicidal thoughts that rise up in God's head." At first, that reminded me of the world view of Gnosticism: God as an evil demiurge, the world as his fall from grace. "Oh no," he said, "our world is just a bad mood of God, a bad day." - "So is there hope outside of this manifestation of the world that we know?" - He smiled: "Oh, hope enough, infinite hope - just not for us."" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
About Franz Kafka