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Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes
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Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer. Widely considered a giant of modern Greek literature, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in nine different years.

Kazantzakis' novels included Zorba the Greek , Christ Recrucified , Captain Michalis , and The Last Temptation of Christ . He also wrote plays, travel books, memoirs and philosophical essays such as The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises. His fame spread in the English-speaking world due to cinematic adaptations of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ .

✵ 18. February 1883 – 26. October 1957   •   Other names ნიკოს კაზანძაკისი, نیکوس کازانتزاکس
Nikos Kazantzakis photo
Nikos Kazantzakis: 222   quotes 74   likes

Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

“Profound and incommensurable is the worth of this flowing world: God clings to it and ascends, God feeds upon it and increases.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

God , World

“The ultimate most holy form of theory is action.
Not to look on passively while the spark leaps from generation to generation, but to leap and to burn with it!”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

“Behind the stream of my mind and body, behind the stream of my race and all mankind, behind the stream of plants and animals, I watch with trembling the Invisible, treading on all visible things and ascending.
Behind his heavy and blood-splattered feet I hear all living things being trampled on and crushed.
His face is without laughter, dark and silent, beyond joy and sorrow, beyond hope.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Hope , Laughter , Animals , Joy

“Outside the wind of Jehovah still beat on the door, trying to enter. There was no other sound. Not a jackal on the earth, nor a crow in the air. Every living thing cowered in fear, waiting for the Lord's anger to pass.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

Source: The Last Temptation of Christ (1951), Ch. 10

Fear , Waiting , Anger

“The Cry within me is a call to arms. It shouts: "I, the Cry, am the Lord your God! I am not an asylum. I am not hope and a home. I am not the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Ghost. I am your General!
"You are not my slave, nor a plaything in my hands. You are not my friend, you are not my child. You are my comrade-in-arms!
"Hold courageously the passes which I entrusted to you; do not betray them. You are in duty bound, and you may act heroically by remaining at your own battle station.
"Love danger. What is most difficult? That is what I want! Which road should you take? The most craggy ascent! It is the one I also take: follow me!”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Love , God , Hope , Home

“It is as though we had buried Someone we thought dead, and now hear him calling in the night: Help me! Heaving and panting, he raises the gravestone of our soul and body higher and still higher, breathing more freely at every moment.
Every word, every deed, every thought is the heavy gravestone he is forever trying to lift. And my own body and all the visible world, all heaven and earth, are the gravestone which God is struggling to heave upward.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

God , World , Soul , Help

“As long as our souls remain strong, that is all that matters; as long as they don't decline. Because with the fall of certain souls in this world, the world itself will collapse. These are the pillars which support it. They are few, but enough.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

"My Friend Poet. Mount Athos.", Ch. 19, p. 215
Report to Greco (1965)

World , Soul , Support , Strong

“How difficult, how extremely difficult for the soul to sever itself from its body the world: from mountains, seas, cities, people. The soul is an octopus and these are its tentacles. … No force anywhere on earth is as imperialistic as the human soul. It occupies and is occupied in turn, but it always considers its empire too narrow. Suffocating, it desires to conquer the world in order to breathe freely.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

"My Friend The Poet. Mount Athos.", Ch. 19, p. 188
Report to Greco (1965)

People , World , Soul , Mountain

“Alas for him who seeks salvation in good only!
Balanced on God's strong shoulders, Good and Evil flap
together like two mighty wings and lift him high.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Odysseus, Book VIII, line 770
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

God , Strong , Evil

“Within profound Silence, erect, fearless, in pain and in play, ascending ceaselessly from peak to peak, knowing that the height has no ending, sing this proud and magical incantation as you hang over the Abyss:
I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, DEFENDER OF THE BORDERS, OF DOUBLE DESCENT, MILITANT, SUFFERING, OF MIGHTY BUT NOT OF OMNIPOTENT POWERS, A WARRIOR AT THE FARTHEST FRONTIERS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF ALL THE LUMINOUS POWERS, THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE.
I BELIEVE IN THE INNUMERABLE, THE EPHEMERAL MASKS WHICH GOD HAS ASSUMED THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES, AND BEHIND HIS CEASELESS FLUX I DISCERN AN INDESTRUCTIBLE UNITY.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

God , Pain , Silence , Suffering

“My God and I are horsemen galloping in the burning sun or under drizzling rain. Pale, starving, but unsubdued, we ride and converse.
"Leader!" I cry. He turns his face toward me, and I shudder to confront his anguish.
Our love for each other is rough and ready, we sit at the same table, we drink the same wine in this low tavern of life.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Love , Life , God , Drink

“Who holds a sword is tempted, who has youth must play,
he who does not fear death on earth does not fear God.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Odysseus, Book VIII, line 560
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Death , God , Youth , Fear

“I heard the bells from the future churches, the children playing and laughing in the schoolyards … and here was an almond tree in bloom before me: I must reach out and cut a flowering branch. For, by believing passionately in something which still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired, whatever we have not irrigated with our blood to such a degree that it becomes strong enough to stride across the somber threshold of nonexistence.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

Source: Report to Greco (1965), p. 434; in a few publications since 2008 part of this has been misattributed to Franz Kafka: "By believing passionately in something which still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired."

Children , Flowers , Tree , Strong

“Never acknowledge the limitations of man. Smash all boundaries! Deny whatever your eyes see. Die every moment, but say: "Death does not exist."”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Death

“Thus did the Holy Harlots unhinge the brains of man,
and when they met and clashed with the pure Mountain Maidens,
they raised their white arms high, their armpits smelled of musk,
and, as the rites decreed, both fought their verbal war:
"God swoops from mountain peeks to eat and play on earth;
we are his food and drink and even his sacred toys —
and learn, O sterile maids, we are his soft, sweet mates.
Let her now leave who fears to merge with her dread God!"
The scornful savage mouth of Krino flashed reply:
"We will not leave! We guard the innocent soul of man!
God is a spirit with pure white wings, a soul that sails,
light, disembodied, deep in our thoughts, without embrace.
It's we who keep the world in bloom with virgin souls!"”

Nikos Kazantzakis

From the Bull Ritual, Book VI, line 197
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

God , War , World , Fear

“I hate all virtues based on food and bloated bellies;
though food and drink are good, I'm better slaked and fed
by that inhuman flame which burns in our black bowels.
I like to name that flame which burns within me God!”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Odysseus, Book XI, line 840
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

God , Hate , Food , Drink

“If you love me, be patient. Look at the trees. Are they in a hurry to ripen their fruit?”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

The Last Temptation of Christ (1951)

Love , Tree

“You gave me your curse, holy Fathers. I give you a blessing: May you be as moral and religious as I am.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

In response to attempts by leaders of the Greek Orthodox church to anathematize him, as quoted in God's Struggler : Religion in the Writings of Nikos Kazantzakis (1996) by Darren J. N. Middleton and Peter Bien, p. 12

“Speak straight and clear! I only hear that manly prayer
which like a huge fist breaks my head against the stones.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Odysseus, Book VIII, line 530
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

“Her green eyes fluttered swiftly twice or thrice, then glazed,
her mouth gaped open, bleating, then her jaws hung loose
and retched up all her soul in lumps of clotting blood.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Death of Phida, Book VIII, line 410
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Soul

“Look upon men and pity them. Look at yourself amid all men and pity yourself. In the obscure dusk of life we touch and fumble at each other, we ask questions, we listen, we shout for help.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Life , Men , Question , Help

“I've fought with men and gods, I've weighed them well and found
the sea more firm than earth, the air more firm than sea,
and man's impalpable soul still yet more firm than air!”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Odysseus, Book XI, line 846
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Men , God , Soul , Sea

“I subdue matter and force it to become my mind's good medium. I rejoice in plants, in animals, in man and in gods, as though they were my children. I feel all the universe nestling about me and following me as though it were my own body.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

God , Children , Feeling , Universe

“Only now, as we feel the onslaught behind us, do we begin dimly to apprehend why the animals fought, begot, and died; and behind them the plants; and behind these the huge reserve of inorganic forces.
We are moved by pity, gratitude, and esteem for our old comrades-in-arms. They toiled, loved, and died to open a road for our coming.
We also toil with the same delight, agony, and exaltation for the sake of Someone Else who with every courageous deed of ours proceeds one step farther.
All our struggle once more will have a purpose much greater than we, wherein our toils, our miseries, and our crimes will have become useful and holy.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Love , Feeling , Courage , Animals

“Cursed be all those on land and sea who eat their fill,
cursed be all those who starve yet raise no hand in protest,
cursed be all the bread, the wine, the meat which day by day
descends deep in the entrails of the exploited man
and turns not into freedom's cry, the murderer's ruthless knife!”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Prayer of three revolutionaries, Book X, line 391
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Freedom , Wine , Cry , Sea

“May he be cursed on earth who gives his trust to virtue,
that bankrupt crone who takes our life's pure gold and gives
but bad receipts for payment in the lower world.
Ah, passers-by that stroll, travelers that come and go,
all that I had, I placed on virtue, and lost the game!”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Book IX, line 402
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Life , World , Travel , Game

“Contend with the powers of nature, force them to the yoke of superior purpose. Free that spirit which struggles within them and longs to mingle with that spirit which struggles within you.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Nature

“Do you believe in dreams, Uncle Simeon? I do; I believe in nothing else. One night I dreamed that invisible enemies had me tied to a dead cypress. Long red arrows were sticking into me from my head to my feet, and the blood was flowing. On my head they had placed a crown of thorns, and intertwined with the thorns were fiery letters which said: "Saint Blasphemer." I am Saint Blasphemer, Rabbi Simeon. So you'd better not ask me anything else, or I'll start my blasphemies.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

Source: The Last Temptation of Christ (1951), Ch. 10

Dreams , Night , Dead

“A vehement eros runs through the Universe. It is like the ether: harder than steel, softer than air.
It cuts through and passes beyond all things, it flees and escapes.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Universe

“I surrender myself to everything. I love, I feel pain, I struggle. The world seems to me wider than the mind, my heart a dark and almighty mystery.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Love , Pain , World , Feeling

“Thus night with all her snares passed through the upper world
and baited all heads sweetly, fed all foolish hopes,
for night can bring to men all shrewish day denies,
wrapped as a gift in the green leaves of opiate dream.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Book VII, line 356
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Men , World , Dreams , Hope

“"Do not die that we may not die," the dead cry out within you. "We had no time to enjoy the women we desired; be in time, sleep with them! We had no time to turn our thoughts into deeds; turn them into deeds! We had no time to grasp and to crystallize the face of our hope; make it firm!" …
But you must choose with care whom to hurl down again into the chasms of your blood, and whom you shall permit to mount once more into the light and the earth.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Women , Hope , Sleep , Light

“Every village has its simpleton, and if one does not exist they invent one to pass the time.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 8

Time

“BLESSED BE ALL THOSE WHO HEAR AND RUSH TO FREE YOU, LORD, AND WHO SAY: "ONLY YOU AND I EXIST."
BLESSED BE ALL THOSE WHO FREE YOU AND BECOME UNITED WITH YOU, LORD, AND WHO SAY: "YOU AND I ARE ONE."
AND THRICE BLESSED BE THOSE WHO BEAR ON THEIR SHOULDERS AND DO NOT BUCKLE UNDER THIS GREAT, SUBLIME, AND TERRIFYING SECRET:
THAT EVEN THIS ONE
DOES NOT EXIST!”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Secret

“I wanted to offer a supreme model to the man who struggles; I wanted to show him that he must not fear pain, temptation or death — because all three can be conquered, all three have already been conquered.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

The Last Temptation of Christ (1951)

Death , Pain , Fear

“I recall an endless desert of infinite and flaming matter. I am burning! I pass through immeasurable, unorganized time, completely done, despairing, crying in the wilderness.
And slowly the flame subsides, the womb of matter grows cool, the stone comes alive, breaks open, and a small green leaf uncurls into the air, trembling. It clutches the soil, steadies itself, raises its head and hands, grasps the air, the water, the light, and sucks at the Universe.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Light , Universe , Water , Time

“The heart unites whatever the mind separates, pushes on beyond the arena of necessity and transmutes the struggle into love.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Love , Heart

“As I watched the seagulls, I thought: "That's the road to take; find the absolute rhythm and follow it with absolute trust."”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 21

“Descend you weary-laden, descend in the dark earth,
help me to finish swiftly my dread master's shroud,
let each hem hold my pain, each corner hide a crow,
a lean, voracious crow to peck his heart out bit by bit.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Slave's prayer, Book XI, line 708
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Pain , Help , Heart

“Amid all these things, beyond all these things every man and nation, every plant and animal, every god and demon, charges upward like an army inflamed by an incomprehensible, unconquerable Spirit.
We struggle to make this Spirit visible, to give it a face, to encase it in words, in allegories and thoughts and incantations, that it may not escape us.
But it cannot be contained in the twentysix letters of an alphabet which we string out in rows; we know that all these words, these allegories, these thoughts, and these incantations are, once more, but a new mask with which to conceal the Abyss.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

God , Animals

“I hold the brimming wineglass and relive the toils of my grandfathers and great-grandfathers. The sweat of my labor runs down like a fountain from my tall, intoxicated brow.
I am a sack filled with meat and bones, blood, sweat, and tears, desires and visions.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

Tear

“Crocodiles sweetly shut their lidded eyes, and yawned,
for the blond meat had been quite good, and in slow rains
new flesh would sprout once more and then be munched anew.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Book XI, line 652
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

“With silent strides Odysseus then shot back the bolt,
passed lightly through the courtyard and sped down the street.
Some saw him take the graveyard's zigzag mountain path,
some saw him leap on rocks that edged the savage shore,
some visionaries saw him in the dead of night
swimming and talking secretly with the sea-demons,
but only a small boy saw him in a lonely dream
sit crouched and weeping by the dark sea's foaming edge.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Book II, line 457
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Dreams , Mountain , Boy , Sea

“Whoever climbed the Lord's mountain had to possess clean hands and an innocent heart; otherwise the Summit would kill him. Today the doorway is deserted. Soiled hands and sinful hearts are able to pass by without fear, for the Summit kills no longer.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

"The Desert. Sinai.", Ch. 21, p. 277
Report to Greco (1965)

Fear , Mountain , Heart

“The doors of heaven and hell are adjacent and identical.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

Source: The Last Temptation of Christ (1951), Ch. 18

Hell

“In religions which have lost their creative spark, the gods eventually become no more than poetic motifs or ornaments for decorating human solitude and walls.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 12

God , Religion , Solitude

“The bodies breathe, feed, store up strength, and then in an erotic moment are shattered, are spent and drained utterly, that they may bequeath their spirit to their sons. What spirit? The drive upward!”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

“Death gestured with his hands and bade the king thrice welcome.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

Book VIII, line 168
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

Death

“Tomorrow, go forth and stand before the Lord. A great and strong wind will blow over you and rend the mountains and break in pieces the rocks, but the Lord will not be in the wind. And after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord will not be in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord will not be in the fire. And after the fire a gentle, cooling breeze. That is where the Lord will be.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Report to Greco

This is how the spirit comes. After the gale, the earthquake, and fire: a gentle, cooling breeze. This is how it will come in our own day as well. We are passing through the period of earthquake, the fire is approaching, and eventually (when? after how many generations?) the gentle, cool breeze will blow.
"The Desert. Sinai.", Ch. 21, p. 278
Report to Greco (1965)

Mountain , Strong