Nikos Kazantzakis: Trending quotes

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Nikos Kazantzakis: 444 quotes76 likes

Source: Report to Greco

“How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea.... All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 7

“We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)
Context: We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life. As soon as we are born the return begins, at once the setting forth and the coming back; we die in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of life is death! But as soon as we are born we begin the struggle to create, to compose, to turn matter into life; we are born in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of ephemeral life is immortality! In the temporary living organism these two streams collide … both opposing forces are holy. It is our duty, therefore, to grasp that vision which can embrace and harmonize these two enormous, timeless, and indestructible forces, and with this vision to modulate our thinking and our action.

“Let your youth have free reign, it won't come again, so be bold and no repenting.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

“Beauty is merciless. You do not look at it, it looks at you and does not forgive.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

Report to Greco (1965)

“Man is able, and has the duty, to reach the furthest point on the road he has chosen. Only by means of hope can we attain what is beyond hope.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

Source: Report to Greco

“Truly, everything in this world depended on time. Time ripened all. If you had time, you succeeded in working the human mud internally and turning it into spirit. Then you did not fear death. If you did not have time, you perished.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

Source: The Last Temptation of Christ

“I should learn to run, to wrestle, to swim, to ride horses, to row, to drive a car, to fire a rifle. I should fill my soul with flesh. I should fill my flesh with soul. In fact, I should reconcile at last within me the two internal antagonists.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

“My principle anguish and the source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

Source: The Last Temptation of Christ

“There is only one woman in the world. One woman, with many faces.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

Disputed
Source: This occurs in the film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), based upon the novel by Kazantzakis, but has not been located in the novel itself.

“When I encounter a sunrise, a painting, a woman, or an idea that makes my heart bound like a young calf, then I know I am standing in front of happiness.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

“My entire soul is a cry, and all my work the commentary on that cry.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

Author's Introduction, p. 15
Report to Greco (1965)

“Let people be, boss; don't open their eyes. And supposing you did, what'd they see? Their misery! Leave their eyes closed, boss, and let them go on dreaming!”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

“Once, I saw a bee drown in honey, and I understood.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

Source: Report to Greco

“Throughout my life my greatest benefactors have been my travels and my dreams. Very few men, living or dead, have helped me in my struggles.”