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Nikos Kazantzakis

Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

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Famous Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

“What is love? It is not simply compassion, not simply kindness. In compassion there are two: the one who suffers and the one who feels compassion. In kindness there are two: the one who gives and the one who receives. But in love there is only one; the two join, unite, become inseparable. The I and the you vanish. To love means to lose oneself in the beloved.”

GivingFeelsMeanTwoSufferingLosesCompassionKindnessOneselfBelovedInseparableLove MeansWhat Is Love
Author:Nikos Kazantzakis
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“The dual substance of Christ - the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain God. [...] has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. [...] My principle anguish and source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh. [...] And my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met.”

MenHumansHas BeensTwoSoulJoySpiritChristPrinciplesMysteryYouthSourceSorrowMetsBattleArmyFleshMy SoulSubstanceYearningAnguishArenaSuperhumanIncessantJoys And SorrowsInscrutable
Author:Nikos Kazantzakis
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“This book was not written because I wanted to offer a supreme model to the man who struggles; I wanted to show him that he must not fear pain, temptation or death - because all three can be conquered, all three have already been conquered. Christ suffered pain, and since then pain has been sanctified. Temptation fought until the very last moment to lead him astray, and Temptation was defeated. Christ died on the Cross, and at that instant death was vanquished forever.”

MenHas BeensBookMomentsShowsWantedPainLastsThreeFearChristStruggleForeverWrittenHe ManOffersModelsCrossesDiedSupremeTemptationInstantDefeatedLife Struggle
Book:The last temptation of Christ
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“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.”

ThinkingMenWorldYearsSpiritualityStarsUnderstandingAnimalTreeGardeningHidden MeaningHieroglyphics
Author:Nikos Kazantzakis
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“Within this arena, which grows more stable night after day, generations work and love and hope and vanish. New generations tread on the corpses of their fathers, continue the work above the abyss and struggle to tame the dread mystery. How? By cultivating a single field, by kissing a woman, by studying a stone, an animal, an idea.”

IdeasNightFatherGrowsAnimalStruggleStudyGenerationsMysteryFieldsKissingStonesAnd LoveStableDreadAbyssArenaCorpsesNew GenerationCultivatingHope And LoveWork And Love
Book:Saviors of God
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“What first truly stirred my soul was not fear or pain, nor was it pleasure or games; it was the yearning for freedom. I had to gain freedom-but from what, from whom? Little by little, in the course of time, I mounted freedom's rough unaccommodating ascent. To gain freedom first of all from the Turk, that was the initial step; after that, later, this new struggle began: to gain freedom from the inner Turk-from ignorance, malice and envy, from fear and laziness, from dazzling false ideas; and finally from idols, all of them, even the most revered and beloved.”

FirstsLittlesIdeasSoulPainCoursesGamesPleasureStepsStruggleIgnoranceGainsEnvyMy SoulBelovedRoughIdolsYearningLazinessInitialsMaliceIdolatryDazzlingAscent
Author:Nikos Kazantzakis
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“If only we know, boss, what the stones and rain and flowers say. Maybe they call-call us-and we don't hear them. When will people's ears open, boss? When shall we have our eyes open to see? When shall we open our arms to embrace everything-stones, rain, flowers, and people? What do you think about that, boss? And what do your books have to say about that?”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsBookEyeNatureFlowerArmsRainStonesEarsEmbraceBoss
Book:Zorba the Greek
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