I know now: I do not hope for anything. I do not fear anything, I have freed myself from both the mind and the heart, I have mounted much higher, I am free . Nikos Kazantzakis More Quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis More Quotes From Nikos Kazantzakis I am a weak, ephemeral creature made of mud and dream. But I feel all the powers of the universe whirling within me. Nikos Kazantzakis mud ephemeral dream The more devils we have within us, the more chance we have to form angels. Nikos Kazantzakis devil chance angel The only way to save yourself is to endeavor to save others. Nikos Kazantzakis save-yourself endeavor way My principle anguish and the source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh. Nikos Kazantzakis battle sorrow joy What is truth? What is falsehood? Whatever gives wings to men, whatever produces great works and great souls and lifts up a man's height above the earth - that's true. Whatever clips off man's wings - that's false. Nikos Kazantzakis wings giving men This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right and to realize of a sudden that in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale. Nikos Kazantzakis horse stars heart You can knock on a deaf man's door forever. Nikos Kazantzakis forever doors men As long as our souls remain strong, that is all that matters; as long as they don't decline. Because with the fall of certain souls in this world, the world itself will collapse. These are the pillars which support it. They are few, but enough. Nikos Kazantzakis strong long fall What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams. Nikos Kazantzakis laughter wine dream As long as there are flowers and children and birds in the world, have no fears: everything will be fine. Nikos Kazantzakis flower long children What first truly stirred my soul was not fear or pain, nor was it pleasure or games; it was the yearning for freedom. I had to gain freedom-but from what, from whom? Little by little, in the course of time, I mounted freedom's rough unaccommodating ascent. To gain freedom first of all from the Turk, that was the initial step; after that, later, this new struggle began: to gain freedom from the inner Turk-from ignorance, malice and envy, from fear and laziness, from dazzling false ideas; and finally from idols, all of them, even the most revered and beloved. Nikos Kazantzakis pain ignorance struggle Be sure to live up to your reputation for honesty and goodness, because many souls who believe you to be honest and good have placed themselves in your hands. Nikos Kazantzakis honesty believe hands The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness. Nikos Kazantzakis eye real inspirational We are not men, to have need of another, an eternal life; we are women, and for us one moment with man we love is everlasting Paradise, one moment far from the man we love is everlasting hell. It is here on earth that we women love out eternity Nikos Kazantzakis love-is men needs God changes his appearance every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises. Nikos Kazantzakis appearance blessed men The heart unites whatever the mind separates, pushes on beyond the arena of necessity and transmutes the struggle into love. Nikos Kazantzakis struggle heart life There is only one sin god will not forgive Boss, and that is to deny a woman who is in wanting ~ Zorba Nikos Kazantzakis boss forgiving sin There is no harsher means of punishment, than to answer malice with kindness. Nikos Kazantzakis punishment kindness mean Man hurries, God does not. That is why man's works are uncertain and maimed, while God's are flawless and sure. My eyes welling with tears, I vowed never to transgress this eternal law again. Like a tree I would be blasted by wind, struck by sun and rain, and would wait with confidence; the long-desired hour of flowering and fruit would come. Nikos Kazantzakis eye rain men As you walk, you cut open and create that river bed into which the stream of your descendants shall enter and flow. Nikos Kazantzakis cutting flow change
