For without a centre, without a profession, a love, a family, an income; i.e

For without a centre, without a profession, a love, a family, an income; i.e. without holding one’s own against the world in the big things – only tentatively, of course – without, therefore, making to a certain extent an imposing impression on it by a great complex of possessions, one cannot protect oneself from losses that momentarily destroy one.

Franz Kafka, The Diaries of Franz Kafka: 1910-1923