“Fools, art is a heavy task, more heavy than gold crowns;
it's far more difficult to match firm words than armies”

— Nikos Kazantzakis

Pharaoh, Book X, line 688
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)
Context: Fools, art is a heavy task, more heavy than gold crowns;
it's far more difficult to match firm words than armies,
they're disciplined troops, unconquered, to be placed in rhythm,
the mind's most mighty foe, and not disperse in air.
I'd give, believe me, a whole land for one good song,
for I know well that only words, that words alone,
like the high mountains, have no fear of age or death.

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Nikos Kazantzakis 222

Greek writer 1883–1957

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