Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

‘In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘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

‘A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘The masses do not see the Sirens. They do not hear songs in the air. Blind, deaf, stooping, they pull at their oars in the hold of the earth. But the more select, the captains, harken to a Siren within them… and royally squander their lives with her.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘I said to the almond tree, ‘Friend, speak to me of God,’ and the almond tree blossomed.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘When everything goes wrong, what a joy to test your soul and see if it has endurance and courage. An invisible and all-powerful enemy – some call him God, others the Devil, seem to rush upon us to destroy us; but we are not destroyed.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘There is only one woman in the world. One woman, with many faces.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘Everything in this world has a hidden meaning.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘Beauty is merciless. You do not look at it, it looks at you and does not forgive.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘Life is a crusade in the service of God. Whether we wished to or not, we set out as crusaders to free – not the Holy Sepulcher – but that God buried in matter and in our souls.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘My ‘Report to Greco’ is not an autobiography.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘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

‘The human soul is heavy, clumsy, held in the mud of the flesh. Its perceptions are still coarse and brutish. It can divine nothing clearly, nothing with certainty.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis

‘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

‘Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to unfasten your belt and look for a fight.’ – Nikos Kazantzakis