Nikos Kazantzakis

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Nikos Kazantzakis (18 February 1883 - 26 October 1957) Greek novelist, poet, playwright, and philosopher

1 Sourced
- 1.1 The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938)
- 1.2 Zorba the Greek (1946)
2 Attributed
3 External links

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Sourced

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free. (Δεν ελπίζω τίποτε. Δεν φοβάμαι τίποτε. Είμαι λεύτερος)
- Epitaph

I am a mariner of Odysseus with heart of fire but with mind ruthless and clear.
- Toda Raba (1934)

I said to the almond tree: 'Speak to me of God.'
and the almond tree blossomed.
- The Fratricides

There is only one woman in the world. One woman, with many faces.
- The Last Temptation of Christ

The doors of heaven and hell are adjacent and identical.
- The Last Temptation of Christ (chapter 18)

There's a devil inside me which cries, 'You're not the son of the Carpenter, you're the son of King David! You are not a man, you are the Son of man whom Daniel prophesied. And still more: The Son of God! And still more: God!'
- The Last Temptation of Christ

My prayer is not the whimpering of a beggar nor a confession of love. Nor is it the petty reckoning of a small tradesman: Give me and I shall give you. My prayer is the report of a soldier to his general: This is what I did today, this is how I fought to save the entire battle in my own sector, these are the obstacles I encountered, this is how I plan to fight tomorrow.
- "The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises"

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The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938)

translated by Kimon Friar

O Sun, great Oriental, my proud mind's golden cap,
I love to wear you cocked askew, to play and burst
in song throughtout our lives, and so rejoice our hearts.
- Prologue Line 1

O Sun, great Oriental, my proud mind's golden cap,
I love to wear you cocked askew and to burst in song
to rouse our hearts, so long as you and I both live.
- Alternative translation of above quote

With silent strides Odysseus then shot back the bolt,
passed lightly through the courtyard and sped down the street.
Some saw him take the graveyard's zigzag mountain path,
some saw him leap on rocks that edged the savage shore,
some visionaries saw him in the dead of night
swiming and talking secretly with the sea-demons,
but only a small boy saw him in a lonely dream
sit crouched and weeping by the dark sea's foaming edge.
- Book II Line 457

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!"
- Odysseus, Book II Line 1017

Death's dry bones glowed with light in the erotic dark
but he woke not nor felt the two warm bodies merge;
the male worm then took heart and in his wife's ear whispered:
'With one sweet kiss, dear wife, we've conquered conquering Death!'
- Orpheus' song, Book III Line 178

The worm stood straight on God's blood-splattered threshold then
and beat his drum, beat it again, and raised his throat:
'You've matched all well on earth, wine, women, bread, and song,
but why, you Murderer, must you slay our children? Why?'
God foamed with rage and raised his sword to pierce that throat,
but his old copper sword, my lads, stuck at the bone.
Then from his belt the worm drew his black-hilted sword,
rushed up and slew that old decrepid god in heaven!
And now, my gallant lads--I don't know when or how-
that worm's god-slaying sword hads fallen into my hands;
I swear that from its topmost iron tip the blood still drips!
- Odysseus' song, Book III Line 424

The rosy mountain peaks laughed like high lustrous thoughts,
and Helen, speechless, raised her pale hands toward the sun
and joyed to feel its warm rays falling on her frozen palms.
- Book IV Line 1361

Thus did the Holy Harlots unhinge the brains of man,
and when they met and clashed with the pure Mountain Maidens,
they raised their white arms high, their armpits smelled of musk,
and, as the rites decreed, both fought their verbal war:
"God swoops from mountain peeks to eat and play on earth;
we are his food and drink and even his sacred toys--
and learn, O sterile maids, we are his soft, sweet mates.
Let her now leave who fears to merge with her dread God!"
The scornful savage mouth of Krino flashed reply:
"We will not leave! We guard the innocent soul of man!
God is a spirit with pure white wings, a soul that sails,
light, disembodied, deep in our thoughts, without embrace.
It's we who keep the world in bloom with virgin souls!"
- From the Bull Ritual, Book VI Line 197

High up where the poor sat, the people quaked with fear:
they saw the soul stretched on the ground, a votive beast
beaten by the conflicting powers of light and dark,
and their minds shook, nor knew now what great god to choose,
for comfort's road dropped to the right, the rough ascent
rose to the left, and both roads seemed to lead to God,
while at the crossroads stood the human heart, and swayed.
- Book VI Line 242

Thus night with all her snares passed through the upper world
and baited all heads sweetly,fed all foolish hopes,
for night can bring to men all shrewish day denies,
wraped as a gift in the grean leaves of opiate dream.
- Book VII Line 356

Death gestured with his hands and bade the king thrice welcome.
- Book VIII Line 168

Her green eyes fluttered swiftly twice or thrice, then glazed,
her mouth gaped open, bleating, then her jaws hung loose
and retched up all her soul in lumps of clotting blood.
- Death of Phida, Book VIII Line 410

Speak straight and clear! I only hear that manly prayer
which like a huge fist breaks my head against the stones.
- Odysseus, Book VIII Line 530

Who holds a sword is tempted, who has youth must play,
he who does not fear death on earth does not fear God.
- Odysseus, Book VIII Line 560

Alas for him who seeks salvation in good only!
Balanced on God's strong shoulders, Good and Evil flap
together like two mighty wings and lift him high.
- Odysseus, Book VIII Line 770

But we, O blockhead, with dogged spite and armored love
shall force those deaf dark powers to grow ears and hear us!
I know that God is earless, eyeless, and heartless too,
a brainless Dragon Worm that crawls on earth and hopes
in anguish and then in secret that we'll give him soul,
for then he, too, may sprout ears, eyes, to match his growth,
but God is clay in my ten fingers, and I mould him!
- Odysseus to Kentaur, Book VIII Line 829

Blessed are those eyes that have seen more water than any man!
Blessed be that haughty mind that aimed at the greatest hope!
May you be blessed who row the current your life long
and now with dry unfreshened lips descend to Hades
to find the hidden deathless sprigns and slake your thirst!
My son it's death who keeps and pours the deathless waters.
- Voice of the Nile, from Odysseus's story, Book VIII Line 1290 (the first line is taken from an Egyptian hieroglyph.)

May he be cursed on earth who gives his trust to virtue,
that bankrupt crone who takes our life's pure gold and gives
but bad receipts for payment in the lower world.
Ah, passers-by that stroll, travelers that come and go,
all that I had, I placed on virtue, and lost the game!
- Book IX Line 402

A slave's soul has no worth, my brothers; it lacks strength
to tread on this great earth with gallantry and freedom.
I pity the poor slaves, they're nought but airy mist,
a light breeze scatters them, a fragrance knocks them down;
it's only just they crawl on the earth on hands and knees.
Today I'll write a hymn to God and pray for this great grace.
- Egyptian high priest Book X Line 90

Cursed be all those on land and sea who eat their fill,
cursed be all those who starve yet raise no hand in protest,
cursed be all the bread, the wine, the meat which day by day
descends deep in the entrails of the exploited man
and turns not into freedom's cry, the murderer's ruthless knife!
- Prayer of three revolutionaries Book X Line 391

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.
- Pharaoh Book X Line 688

Comrades, I've voyaged long and far on sea and soul,
my eyes have seen disease, gods, ghosts, and men, and yet
in no land have I seen a more false, murderous siren
than that wind-headed, babbling, blind bitch-hound called Hope!
- Odysseus Book X Line 892

Monarch of earth, I shall confess my secret craft:
I've always fought to purify wild flame to light,
and kindle whatever light I found to burst in flame.
- Odysseus to Hades Book XI Line 145

Crocodiles sweetly shut their lidded eyes, and yawned,
for the blond meat had been quite good, and in slow rains
new flesh would sprout once more and then be munched anew.
- Book XI Line 652

Descend you weary-laden, descend in the dark earth,
help me to finish swiftly my dread master's shroud,
let each hem hold my pain, each corner hide a crow,
a lean voracious crow to peck his heart out bit by bit.
- Slave's prayer Book XI Line 708

I hate all virtues based on food and bloated bellies;
though food and drink are good, I'm better slaked and fed
by that inhuman flame which burns in our black bowels.
I like to name that flame which burns within me God!
- Odysseus Book XI Line 840

I've fought with men and gods, I've weighed them well and found
the sea more firm than earth, the air more firm than sea,
and man's impalpable soul still yet more firm than air!
- Odysseus Book XI Line 846

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Zorba the Greek (1946)

To cleave that sea in the gentle autumnal season, murmuring the name of each islet, is to my mind the joy most apt to transport the heart of man into paradise.
- On the Aegean Sea ~ Ch. 2

How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. . . . All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.
- Ch. 7

As I watched the seagulls, I thought: "That's the road to take; find the absolute rhythm and follow it with absolute trust."
- Ch. 21

The highest point a man can obtain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic and more despairing: Sacred Awe!
- Ch. 24

While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it we do suddenly realize— sometimes with astonishment— how happy we had been.

Every village has its simpleton, and if one does not exist they invent one to pass the time.

In religions which have lost their creative spark, the gods eventually become no more than poetic motifs or ornaments for decorating human solitude and walls.

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Attributed

A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.

Beauty is merciless. You do not look at it, it looks at you and does not forgive.

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.

Every perfect traveller always creates the country where he travels.

My entire soul is a cry, and all my work is a commentary on that cry.

Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.

We have seen the highest circle of spiraling powers. We have named this circle God. We might have given it any name we wished: Abyss, Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light, Matter, Spirit, Ultimate Hope, Ultimate Despair, Silence. But never forget, it is we who give it a name.