Nikos Kazantzakis quotes - page 11

Die every day. Be reborn again every day. (Nikos Kazantzakis)
Only after I've seen the visible can I imagine what the invisible is. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
It doesn't matter whether or not you have a head, you must wear the right sort of hat. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
The masses do not see the Sirens. They do not hear songs in the air. Blind, deaf, stooping, they pull at their oars in the hold of the earth. But the more select, the captains, harken to a Siren within them...and royally squander their lives with her. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
How simple and frugal a thing is happiness. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
God sends rain, but He also sends hoods; and when the rain grows heavier, He sends a cave. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Freedom was my first great desire. The second, which remains hidden within me to this day, tormenting me, was the desire for sanctity. Hero together with saint: such is mankind's supreme model. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
He who is invisible sees more clearly, hears more clearly, and is better able to read the thoughts of men. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Discipline is the highest of all virtues. Only so may strength and desire be counterbalanced and the endeavors of man bear fruit. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Once more there sounded within me the terrible warning that there is only one life for all men, that there is only one life for all men, that there is no other and that all that can be enjoyed must be enjoyed here. In eternity no other chance will be given to us. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
A slave's soul has no worth, my brothers; it lacks strength to tread on this great earth with gallantry and freedom. I pity the poor slaves, they're nought but airy mist, a light breeze scatters them, a fragrance knocks them down; it's only just they crawl on the earth on hands and knees. Today I'll write a hymn to God and pray for this great grace. (Nikos Kazantzakis)
You do miracles if you concentrate your mind on one thing and one thing only. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
All roads lead to the earth; the abyss leads to God. Jump! View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
No wide road leads to God. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Yes, there is weeping, even in heaven, but it is for those who are still crawling on the earth. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Each man must have his own special route to lead him to God. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Monarch of earth, I shall confess my secret craft: I've always fought to purify wild flame to light, and kindle whatever light I found to burst in flame. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Lions and Lambs, love and force, light and fire, good and evil: all things climb the same mountain, the mountain of God. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
so few in reality are the true necessities of man. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
A magical portal opened inside my mind and conducted me into an astonishing world. [...] Before this moment I had divined but had never known with such positiveness that the world is extremely large and that suffering and toil are the companions and fellow warriors not only of Cretan, but of every man. [...] That by means of poetry all this suffering and effort could be transformed into dream; no matter how much of the ephemeral existed, poetry could immortalize it by turning it into song. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
We are not simple people who believe in happiness; nor weaklings who crumple to the ground in distress at the first reverse; nor skeptics observing the bloody effort of marching humanity from the lofty heights of a mocking, sterile wit. Believing in the fight, though we entertain no illusions about it, we are armed against every disappointment. (Nikos Kazantzakis)
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. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Gather your strength and listen; the whole heart of man is a single outcry. Lean against your breast to hear it; someone is struggling and shouting within you. It is your duty every moment, day and night, in joy or in sorrow, amid all daily necessities, to discern this Cry with vehemence or restraint, according to your nature, with laughter or with weeping, in action or in thought, striving to find out who is imperiled and cries out. And how we may all be mobilized together to free him. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
Someone within me is struggling to lift a great weight, to cast off the mind and flesh by overcoming habit, laziness, necessity. I do not know from where he comes or where he goes. I clutch at his onward march in my ephemeral breast, I listen to his panting struggle, I shudder when I touch him. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis
"Love responsibility. Say: "It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it is not saved, then I alone am to blame." "Love each man according to his contribution in the struggle. Do not seek friends; seek comrades-in-arms. View quote
Nikos Kazantzakis