The Trial (1962) · 10 quotes
Most-quoted character in The Trial (1962): in 5 of its 10 quotes
A line from Josef K.You...! I make you very uncomfortable, don't I? It distresses you to find me in your company? Yes, I've been told about that! Before I thought you, you took me for a judge, or at least some official of the court! I even thought you were afraid of me, but what you're feeling is PAIN! You don't like what you see, do you? It's my mouth! You think you can tell from my mouth, that I'm condemned! That I'm going to be found guilty! GUILTY!
Josef K. I'm sorry.
Miss Burstner You're sorry, you're sorry, you're sorry. You always keep saying that. Who gives a damn?
Josef K. I know. I'm s...
Miss Burstner What's the big joke?
Josef K. I almost said it again. You're right, of course. You're perfectly right.
Miss Burstner Yeah?
Josef K. Nobody gives a damn. I know you don't.
Bloch You're supposed to be able to tell from a man's face and from the line of his lips, especially, how his case is going to turn out.
Josef K. So?
Bloch So the people are saying that from the expression on your lips, they could tell that you'll be found guilty, yes, in the very near future.
You see, in definite acquittal, all the documents are annulled. But with ostensible acquittal, your whole dossier continues to circulate. Up to the higher courts, down to the lower ones, up again, down. These oscillations and peregrinations, you just can't figure 'em.
Josef K. No use in trying either, I suppose.
Not a hope. Why, I've known cases of an acquitted man coming home from the court and finding the cops waiting there to arrest him all over again. But then, of course, theoretically it's always possible to get another ostensible acquittal.
Josef K. The second acquittal wouldn't be final either.
It's automatically followed by the third arrest. The third acquittal, by the fourth arrest. The fourth...
Josef K. I think what surprises me most is how ignorant I am about everything concerning this court of yours. For an accused man, that's a mistake. He should never let himself be caught napping, never for a minute let his eye stray to the left, when for all he knows, a judge or somebody like that can be lurking somewhere to the right.
Josef K. I don't pretend to be a martyr, no.
Not even a victim of society?
Josef K. I am a member of society.
Do you think you can persuade the court that you're not responsible by reason of lunacy?
Josef K. I think that's what the court wants me to believe. Yes, that's the conspiracy: to persuade us all that the whole world is crazy, formless, meaningless, absurd. That's the dirty game. So I've lost my case. What of it? You, you're losing too. It's all lost, lost. So what? Does that sentence the entire universe to lunacy?
