إذا انسحبت منهزماً سيصير موتي عاقراً . وسيضيع مع جسدي و ستتبعثر روحي أدراج الرياح . وإذا حاربت ببسالة فسأهبط إلى أعماق الأرض كثمرة مليئة بالبذور. نفسي … - 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.

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?

How could I, who loved life so intensely, have let myself be entangled for so long in that balderdash of books and paper blackened with ink!