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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
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Nikos Kazantzakis
Age: 74 †
Born: 1883
Born: February 18
Died: 1957
Died: October 26
Journalist
Novelist
Philosopher
Playwright
Poet
Politician
Screenwriter
Translator
Writer
Heraclion
Nicos Kazantzakes
Joy
Joys
Principles
Anguish
Spirit
Principle
Flesh
Sorrow
Merciless
Battle
Onward
Youth
Incessant
Source
Sorrows
More quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis
Ah, if you could dance all that you've just said, then I'd understand.
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I said to the almond tree, 'Sister, speak to me of God.' And the almond tree blossomed.
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The ultimate, most holy form of theory is action.
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Reach what you cannot
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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.
Nikos Kazantzakis
When I encounter a sunrise, a painting, a woman, or an idea that makes my heart bound like a young calf, then I know I am standing in front of happiness.
Nikos Kazantzakis
I loved my body and did not want it to perish I loved my soul and did not want it to decay. I have fought to reconcile these two primordial forces.
Nikos Kazantzakis
The landscape affects the human psyche - the soul, the body and the innermost contemplations - like music. Every time you feel nature deeper you resonate better with her, finding new elements of balance and freedom.
Nikos Kazantzakis
Only after I've seen the visible can I imagine what the invisible is.
Nikos Kazantzakis
Beauty is merciless. You do not look at it, it looks at you and does not forgive.
Nikos Kazantzakis
Everything in this world has a hidden meaning, I thought. Men, animals, trees, stars, they are all hieroglyphics woe to anyone who begins to decipher them and guess what they mean.... When you see them, you do not understand them. You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. It is only years later, too late, that you understand.
Nikos Kazantzakis
Inexperience loves to preach.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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!
Nikos Kazantzakis
All those who actually live the mysteries of life haven't the time to write, and all those who have the time don't live them! D'you see?
Nikos Kazantzakis
Before me is the abyss. How can I leap across it? And if I do not leap, how shall I ever be able to reach God?
Nikos Kazantzakis
Man is able, and has the duty, to reach the furthest point on the road he has chosen. Only by means of hope can we attain what is beyond hope.
Nikos Kazantzakis
Whoever climbed the Lord's mountain had to possess clean hands and an innocent heart otherwise the Summit would kill him. Today the doorway is deserted. Soiled hands and sinful hearts are able to pass by without fear, for the Summit kills no longer.
Nikos Kazantzakis
The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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!
Nikos Kazantzakis
I say one thing, you write another, and those who read you understand still something else! I say: cross, death, kingdom of heaven, God...and what do you understand? Each of you attaches his own suffering, interests and desires to each of these sacred words, and my words disappear, my soul is lost. I can't stand it any longer!
Nikos Kazantzakis