Discipline is the highest of all virtues. Only so may strength and desire be counterbalanced and the endeavors of man bear fruit. Nikos Kazantzakis More Quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis More Quotes From Nikos Kazantzakis Let your youth have free reign, it won't come again, so be bold and no repenting. Nikos Kazantzakis repent reign youth Fools, art is a heavy task, more heavy than gold crowns; it's far more difficult to match firm words than armies, they're disciplined troops, unconquered, to be placed in rhythm, the mind's most mighty foe, and not disperse in air. I'd give, believe me, a whole land for one good song, for I know well that only words, that words alone, like the high mountains, have no fear of age or death. Nikos Kazantzakis song believe art For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm. Nikos Kazantzakis sin law today The dual substance of Christ - the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain God. [...] has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. [...] My principle anguish and source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh. [...] And my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met. Nikos Kazantzakis army men two Throughout my life, my greatest benefactors have been my dreams and my travels; very few men, living or dead, have helped me in my struggle. Nikos Kazantzakis struggle dream men The struggle between God and man breaks out in everyone, together with the longing for reconciliation. Most often this struggle is unconscious and short-lived. A weak soul does not have the endurance to resist the flesh for very long. It grows heavy, becomes flesh itself, and the contest ends. But among responsible men, men who keep their eyes riveted day and night upon the Supreme Duty, the conflict between flesh and spirit breaks out mercilessly and may last until death. Nikos Kazantzakis eye struggle night Beauty is merciless. You do not look at it, it looks at you and does not forgive. Nikos Kazantzakis forgiving doe looks All the political, social, and economic improvements, all the technical progress cannot have any regenerating significance, so long as our inner life remains as it is at present. The more the intelligence unveils and violates the secrets of Nature, the more the danger increases and the heart shrinks. Nikos Kazantzakis heart inspiring long When an almond tree became covered with blossoms in the heart of winter, all the trees around it began to jeer. 'What vanity,' they screamed, 'what insolence! Just think, it believes it can bring spring in this way!' The flowers of the almond tree blushed for shame. 'Forgive me, my sisters,' said the tree. 'I swear I did not want to blossom, but suddenly I felt a warm springtime breeze in my heart. Nikos Kazantzakis flower spring believe We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life. Nikos Kazantzakis abyss ends dark Life on earth means: the sprouting of wings. Nikos Kazantzakis earth wings mean I believe I'm a caterpillar buried deep down under the ground. The entire earth is above me, crushing me and I begin to bore through the soil, making a passage to the surface so that I can penetrate the crust and issue into the light. It's hard work boring through the entire earth, but I'm able to be patient because I have a strong premonition that as soon as I do issue into the light I shall become a butterfly. Nikos Kazantzakis crush strong believe I surrender myself to everything. I love, I feel pain, I struggle. The world seems to me wider than the mind, my heart a dark and almighty mystery. Nikos Kazantzakis pain struggle heart Life's true face is the skull. Nikos Kazantzakis skulls faces I should learn to run, to wrestle, to swim, to ride horses, to row, to drive a car, to fire a rifle. I should fill my soul with flesh. I should fill my flesh with soul. In fact, I should reconcile at last within me the two internal antagonists. Nikos Kazantzakis horse fire running What happiness this is: to fly, skimming over the earth just as we do in our dreams! Life has become a dream. Can this be the meaning of paradise? Nikos Kazantzakis paradise earth dream I say one thing, you write another, and those who read you understand still something else! I say: cross, death, kingdom of heaven, God...and what do you understand? Each of you attaches his own suffering, interests and desires to each of these sacred words, and my words disappear, my soul is lost. I can't stand it any longer! Nikos Kazantzakis soul writing heaven I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else. Nikos Kazantzakis wine simple happiness No wide road leads to God. Nikos Kazantzakis wide A woman's body is a dark and monstrous mystery; between her supple thighs a heavy whirlpool swirls, two rivers crash, and woe to him who slips and falls! Nikos Kazantzakis dark two fall
