Quotessence
Home / Authors / Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis

Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenKazatzakisGreek QuotesSoulIfsWorldEarthHeartBelieveMindLifeStruggleTwoDoeEyeGivingLife QuotesLightMomentsSea

Famous Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

“There are mountains in the world,' I said, 'which are huge, immense and dotted all over with monasteries. And in those monasteries live monks in saffron robes. They stay seated, with crossed legs, for one, two, six months at a time, thinking of one thing and one thing only. One thing, do you hear? Not two - one! They don't think of women and lignite or books and lignite, as we do; they concentrate their minds on one and the same thing, and they achieve miracles. You have seen what happens when you hold a glass out to the sun and concentrate all the rays onto one spot, Zorba? That spot soon catches fire, doesn't it? Why? Because the sun's power has not been dispersed but concentrated on that one spot. It is the same with men's minds. You do miracles, if you concentrate your mind on one thing and only one. Do you understand, Zorba?”

MindGreekConcentrationMind PowerZorba
Book:Zorba the Greek
Create image

“Fools, art is a heavy task, more heavy than gold crowns; it's far more difficult to match firm words than armies, they're disciplined troops, unconquered, to be placed in rhythm, the mind's most mighty foe, and not disperse in air. I'd give, believe me, a whole land for one good song, for I know well that only words, that words alone, like the high mountains, have no fear of age or death.”

KnowsGivingMindBelieveWellsArtWholeAgeSongDifficultAirLandFoolMountainArt IsTasksGoldArmyHeavyRhythmFirmTroopsBelieve In MeCrownsNo FearFoeHave No Fear
Book:the Odyssey a Modern Sequel
Create image

“A magical portal opened inside my mind and conducted me into an astonishing world. [...] Before this moment I had divined but had never known with such positiveness that the world is extremely large and that suffering and toil are the companions and fellow warriors not only of Cretan, but of every man. [...] That by means of poetry all this suffering and effort could be transformed into dream; no matter how much of the ephemeral existed, poetry could immortalize it by turning it into song.”

MenWorldMindMeanMatterMomentsDreamSufferingSongEffortKnownFellowsEvery ManWarriorCompanionTransformedToilAstonishingEphemeralPortalPositiveness
Author:Nikos Kazantzakis
Create image