Quotes by
Nikos Kazantzakis |
Νίκος Καζαντζάκης, 1883-1957 , Greek writer
Greek writer whose prolific output and wide variety of work represent a major contribution to modern Greek literature.Best known for his widely translated novels. Zorba the Greek (1946), a O Kapetán Mikhális (1950; Freedom or Death), a depiction of Cretan Greeks’ struggle against their Ottoman overlords in the 19th century; The Greek Passion (1954); Published after his death was the autobiographical novel Anaforá stón Gréko (1961; Report to Greco).
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Quotations
| • | Let’s go out, under the stars, so God can see us! (Alexis Zorbas speaking) |
| • | Our body is a ship sailing over deep blue waters. What is our destination? To be shipwrecked! |
| • | If only we could know, boss, what the stones, the flowers, the rain say! They may shout, they may shout at us, and we may not listen. |
| • | If a woman sleeps alone, we, all men, are to blame. We shall have to give an answer for this on Judgment Day. (Alexis Zorbas speaking) |
| • | Sin should be a mountain of pork to get in, a pond of wine to dive in and swim, not a small snack. |
| • | Are you really asking me about the heart of a sinner? I have the heart of a pious man and it’s full of demons. |
| • | The devil can and does enter only Hell, the angel can and does enter only Paradise. The man, wherever he wants! |
| • | What a terrible ascent from the ape to man, from man to God. |
| • | We have to knock, knock on our destiny, to open the door, to escape! |
| • | He says he wants to be free. Kill him! |
| • | What I want to leave behind me is a burnt castle. Nothing else. |
| • | I once saw a bee drowned in honey and then I understood. |
| • | Man cannot do anything brave in the world unless he submits his life to a Master superior to him. |
| • | Justice is good, but it’s for the angels. The man can not endure, he needs mercy. I wonder, my God, if the gate to heaven is at the bottom of hell. |
| • | The mountain belongs to the monastery. The monastery belongs to God. And God belongs to everybody. (Alexis Zorbas speaking) |
| • | Greece still survives, I think it survives through successive miracles. |
| • | If the man does not reach the edge of the cliff, he cannot grow wings to fly. |
| • | If you can look at the fear straight in the eye, the fear will be scared and will go away. |
| • | The four cornerstones of this world: bread, wine, fire, woman. |
| • | As long as there are hungry children, God does not exist! |
| • | A cliff full of flowers is the body of the woman. |
| • | Don't be tempted to ask, “Will we win? Will we be defeated?” Just fight! |
| • | We come from a dark abyss; we end up in a dark abyss; the bright space in between is called Life. |
| • | There are no ideas, there are only people who carry the ideas, and they get the height of those who carry them. |
| • | Stone, iron, steel will not endure. Man endures. |
| • | The right way is uphill. |
| • | Our life is just a flash. Still, we have time. |
| • | You have the brushes, you have the colors, paint the paradise and go inside. |
| • | I hope for nothing. I am afraid of nothing. I am free. (inscription on his grave) |
