so few in reality are the true necessities of man Nikos Kazantzakis More Quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis More Quotes From Nikos Kazantzakis All roads lead to the earth; the abyss leads to God. Jump! Nikos Kazantzakis abyssearth All my life I struggled to stretch my mind to the breaking point, until it began to creak, in order to create a great thought which might be able to give a new meaning to life, a new meaning to death, and to console mankind. Nikos Kazantzakis point-breakgivingorder To think things out properly and fairly, a fellow's got to be calm and old and toothless: When you're an old gaffer with no teeth, it's easy to say: 'Damn it, boys, you mustn't bite!' But, when you've got all thirty-two teeth. Nikos Kazantzakis boystwothinking While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realise - sometimes with astonishment - how happy we had been. Nikos Kazantzakis lookhappyhappinesspast True teachers use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own. Nikos Kazantzakis teacherstrueownstudents Happiness is a simple everyday miracle, like water, and we are not aware of it. Nikos Kazantzakis likesimplehappinesswater One of man's greatest obligations is anger. Nikos Kazantzakis obligationsgreatestmananger God hates a half-devil ten times more than an arch-devil! Nikos Kazantzakis hatesthanmoregod May God forgive me, but the letters of the alphabet frighten me terribly. They are sly, shameless demons - and dangerous! You open the inkwell, release them; they run off - and how will you ever get control of them again! Nikos Kazantzakis demonsmeyougod Tell me what you do with the food you eat, and I'll tell you who you are. Some turn their food into fat and manure, some into work and good humour, and others, I'm told, into God. So there must be three sorts of men. Nikos Kazantzakis goodmegodwork I said to the almond tree, 'Friend, speak to me of God,' and the almond tree blossomed. Nikos Kazantzakis mespeakgodtreeinspirational The struggle between God and man breaks out in everyone, together with the longing for reconciliation... God does not love weak souls and flabby flesh. The spirit desires to wrestle with flesh which is strong and full of resistance. It is a carnivorous bird which is incessantly hungry; it eats flesh and, by assimilating it, makes it disappear. Nikos Kazantzakis mangodbirdlove I knew that no matter what door you knock on in a Cretan village, it will be opened for you. A meal will be served in your honor, and you will sleep between the best sheets in the house. In Crete, the stranger is still the unknown god. Before him, all doors and all hearts are opened. Nikos Kazantzakis bestyougodsleep Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to unfasten your belt and look for a fight. Nikos Kazantzakis fightlooklifedeath My principal anguish, and the wellspring of all my joys and sorrows, has been the incessant merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh. Nikos Kazantzakis beenprincipalbattlespirit That part of Christ's nature which was profoundly human helps us to understand him and love him and to pursue his Passion as though it were our own. If he had not within him this warm human element, he would never be able to touch our hearts with such assurance and tenderness; he would not be able to become a model for our lives. Nikos Kazantzakis understandpassionnaturelove
