"There is within everyone a devil which gnaws the nights to destruction, and that is neither good nor bad, rather, it is life: if you did not have it, you could not live. So what you curse in yourself is your life. This devil is the material (and a fundamentally wonderful one) which you have been given and which you must now make use of..... On the Charles Bridge in Prague, there is a relief under the statue of a saint, which tells your story. The saint is ploughing a field there and has harnessed a devil to the plough. Of course, the devil is still furious (hence the transitional stage; as long as the devil is not satisfied the victory is not complete), he bares his teeth, looks back at his master with a crooked, nasty expression and convusively retracts his tail; nevertheless, he is submitted to the yoke..."
Franz Kafka
(from a letter to a friend)
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