Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

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.

"كنتُ مارَّاً ذات يومٍ من قرية صغيرة. كان ثمة جدٌّ هرم في التسعين يغرس شجرة لوز فقلت له: "إيه أيها الأب الصغير، أتزرع شجرة لوز؟" فالتفت إلي وهو محني كما كان وقال: "إني اتصرف يا بني وأكني لن أموتَ أبداً" فأجبته: "وأنا أتصرف وكأني سأموت كل لحظة". من كان المحق منا أيها الرئيس؟"

عديدة هي افراح هذا العالم النساء والفواكة والافكار

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!

«Ε κακομοίρη άνθρωπε», είπε δυνατά, «μπορείς να μετακινήσεις βουνά, να κάμεις θάματα, κι εσύ να βουλιάζεις στην κοπριά, στην τεμπελιά και στην απιστία! Θεό έχεις μέσα σου, Θεό κουβαλάς και δεν το ξέρεις - το μαθαίνεις μονάχα την ώρα που πεθαίνεις, μα 'ναι πολύ αργά. Ας ανασκουμπωθούμε εμείς που το ξέρουμε, ας σύρουμε μπορεί να μας ακούσουν!»

All my life I struggled to stretch my mind to the breaking point, until it began to creak, in order to create a great thought which might be able to give a new meaning to life, a new meaning to death, and to console mankind.

Ό,τι δεν συνέβη ποτέ, είναι ό,τι δεν ποθήσαμε αρκετά.

If a woman sleeps alone it puts a shame on all men. God has a very big heart, but there is one sin He will not forgive. If a woman calls a man to her bed and he will not go.

هذا العالم أحجيَة ، و الإنسان ليسَ إلّا حيوان مُفترِس ...

"إنهم يسألونني "لم تضحك , أيها الصديق؟ " . لكن كيف أشرح لهم ؟ انني أضحك لأنني في اللحظة التي أمد يدي فيها لأرى إذا كانت الحبال الحديدية جيدة , أفكر فجأة في ماهية الإنسان , وفي السبب الذي جاء من أجله إلى العالم , وفي الفائدة المرتجاة منه"

All those who actually live the mysteries of life haven't the time to write, and all those who have the time don't live them! D'you see?

Our profound human duty is not to interpret or to cast light on the rhythm of God's arch, but to adjust, as much as we can, the rhythm of our small and fleeting life to his. Only thus may we mortals succeed in achieving something immortal, because then we collaborate with One who is Deathless. Only thus may we conquer mortal sin, the concentration on details, the narrowness of our brains; only thus may we transubstantiate into freedom the slavery of earthen matter given us to mold.

God, what is all this talk put out by the popes? Paradise is here, my good man. God, give me no other paradise!

قلت لشجرة اللوز:
حدثيني عن الله ,
فأزهرت شجرة اللوز

Everything you do reverberates throughout a thousand destinies. As you walk, you cut open and create that river bed into which the stream of your descendants shall enter and flow.