Quotes from Nikos Kazantzakis

I've stopped thinking all the time of what happened yesterday. And stopped asking what's going to happen tomorrow. What's happening today, this minute, is what I care about.

Everything in this world has a hidden meaning.

I fight to embrace the entire circle of human activity to the full extent of my ability.

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

The truth is that we all are one, that all of us together create god, that god is not man's ancestor, but his descendant.

I possess no weapon but love. With that I have come to do battle. Help me!

My 'Report to Greco' is not an autobiography.

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.

Every perfect traveller always creates the country where he travels.

I said to the almond tree, 'Sister, speak to me of God.' And the almond tree blossomed.

I said to the almond tree, 'Friend, speak to me of God, ' and the almond tree blossomed.

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

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.

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.

Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels.

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.

Let your youth have free reign. It won't come again, so be bold, and no repenting.

Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to unfasten your belt and look for a fight.

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

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.

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

What a miracle life is and how alike are all souls when they send their roots down deep and meet and are one!

No! No! Never acknowledge the limitations of man. Smash all boundaries! Deny whatever your eyes see. Die every moment, but say: Death does not exist.'

Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean sea.