It seems hard to remain a bachelor...to model your appearance and behaviour on one or two bachelors remembered from your youth. That is how it will be, only that in reality it will be you yourself standing there, today and later, with a body and a real head, and so with a brow too, to strike with your hand.
In the quote from Franz Kafka's work, he reflects on the challenges of embracing bachelorhood while drawing inspiration from past figures. The struggle lies in idealizing the few bachelors remembered from earlier times, which creates an unrealistic model of how to live as a single man. Instead of emulating those figures, it highlights the importance of authenticity in one's own existence.
Kafka suggests that reality forces individuals to confront their own identities, with all their physical and emotional attributes. The essence of the quote is that one cannot simply replicate another's lifestyle, as true fulfillment comes from accepting and embodying one's unique self in the present moment.