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The canary is like a man's soul. It sees bars around it, but instead of despairing, it sings.

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
Like
Despairing
Sings
Bars
Sees
Instead
Around
Soul
Canary
Men
Canaries

More quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis

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I am a weak, ephemeral creature made of mud and dream. But I feel all the powers of the universe whirling within me.
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The doors of heaven and hell are adjacent and identical.
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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!
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The major and almost only theme of all my work is the struggle of man with God: the unyielding, inextinguishable struggle of the naked worm called man against the terrifying power and darkness of the forces within him and around him.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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You gave me your curse, holy Fathers. I give you a blessing: May you be as moral and religious as I am.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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Ah, if you could dance all that you've just said, then I'd understand.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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By believing passionately in that which doesn't exist, you create it and that which has not been sufficiently desired is what we call the non existent.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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If a woman sleeps alone it puts a shame on all men. God has a very big heart, but there is one sin He will not forgive. If a woman calls a man to her bed and he will not go.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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You can knock on a deaf man's door forever.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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Die every day. Be reborn again every day.
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Overdraw me, Lord, and who cares if I break.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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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
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Yes, there is weeping, even in heaven, but it is for those who are still crawling on the earth.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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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
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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.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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I should learn to run, to wrestle, to swim, to ride horses, to row, to drive a car, to fire a rifle. I should fill my soul with flesh. I should fill my flesh with soul. In fact, I should reconcile at last within me the two internal antagonists.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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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
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Truly, everything in this world depended on time. Time ripened all. If you had time, you succeeded in working the human mud internally and turning it into spirit. Then you did not fear death. If you did not have time, you perished.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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Today, any action anywhere on earth has an immediate repercussion on all five continents. News of a victory of the Eastern armies in Morocco or Shanghai travels instantly, thanks to modern means of communication, to all Eastern peoples and fills them with enthusiasm and faith. This phenomenon is, of course, unprecedented in the history of man.
Nikos Kazantzakis
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All roads lead to the earth the abyss leads to God. Jump!
Nikos Kazantzakis