I tried to explain the intellectual content of a play which I had been reading.

'And all this is simply stated?' asked Kafka.

'No', I answered. 'The author tries to present these ideas concretely'.

He nodded quickly. 'Quite right. Simply to say something is not enough. One must live it. And for this language is an essential intermediary, something living, a medium. Yet language also must not be used as a means but must be experienced, suffered. Language is an eternal mistress.

from Gustav Janouch's Conversations With Kafka