Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

What is the purpose of this struggle? This is what the wretched self-seeking mind of man is always asking, forgetting that the Great Spirit does not toil within the bounds of human time, place, or casualty. The Great Spirit is superior to these human questionings. It teems with many rich and wandering drives which to our shallow minds seem contradictory; but in the essence of divinity they fraternize and struggle together, faithful comrades-in-arms. The primordial Spirit branches out, overflows, struggles, fails, succeeds, trains itself. It is the Rose of the Winds.

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

Как ще повярват невярващите какви чудеса може да стори вярата?
Те забравят, че душата на човека става всемогъща, когато бъде овладяна от една велика идея. Обхваща те страх, когато след горчив опит разбереш, че вътре в нас съществува една сила, която може да надвиши силите на човека; обхваща те страх, защото от онзи миг, в който разбереш, че тази сила съществува, вече не можеш да намериш оправдание за дребнавите си или малодушни постъпки, за пропиления си живот, за който хвърляш вината на другите; знаеш вече, че ти, не съдбата, не орисията, нито хората около теб, ти единствен носиш цялата отговорност, каквото и да правиш, какъвто и да станеш.
И тогава се срамуваш да се смееш, срамуваш се да се присмиваш, ако някоя пламенна душа се стреми към невъзможното.
И ти съзнаваш вече съвсем ясно, че ценността на човека се състои в това: да търси и да знае, че търси невъзможното; и да бъде убеден, че ще го постигне, защото знае, че ако не прояви малодушие, ако не послуша това, което му нашепва разумът, а стиска зъби и продължава да преследва невъзможното убедено, упорито, тогава става чудото, което безкрилият ум никога не би могъл да проумее: невъзможното става възможно.

You have your brush, you have your colours, you paint paradise, then, in you go.

في هذا العالم لا يمكن أن تكون إلا واحدا من اثنين حملا أو ذئبا الحملان تؤكل و الذئاب تأكل . أفلا يوجد يا إلهي حيوان ثالث يكون قويا و طيبا في نفس الوقت !

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!

I am not alone in my fear, nor alone in my hope, nor alone in my shouting. A tremendous host, an onrush of the Universe fears, hopes, and shouts with me. I am an improvised bridge, and when Someone passes over me, I crumble away behind Him.

One power descends and wants to scatter, to come to a standstill, to die. The other power ascends and strives for freedom, for immortality. These two armies, the dark and the light, the armies of life and of death, collide eternally.

"Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality," says one of my favorite Byzantine mystics. I did this when a child; I do it now as well in the most creative moments of my life.

Look, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. ‘What, grandfather!’ I exclaimed. ‘Planting an almond tree?’ And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: ‘My son, I carry on as if I should never die.’ I replied: ‘And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.’

Which of us was right, boss?

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

What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams.

I am a mariner of Odysseus with heart of fire but with mind ruthless and clear.

Gather together in your heart all terrors, recompose all details. Salvation is a circle; close it!

Joy! Joy! I did not know that all this world is so much part of me, that we are all one army, that windflowers and stars struggle to right and left of me and do not know me; but I turn to them and hail them. The Universe is warm, beloved, familiar, and it smells like my own body. It is Love and War both, a raging restlessness, persistence and uncertainty. Uncertainty and terror. In a violent flash of lightning I discern on the highest peak of power the final, the most fearful pair embracing: Terror and Silence. And between them, a Flame.