NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS

There is only one woman in the world. One woman, with many faces.

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.

Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.

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

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.

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

One of man's greatest obligations is anger.

Everything in this world has a hidden meaning.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.

Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels.

The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.

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

All my life, I struggled to stretch my mind to the breaking point, until it began to creak, in order to create a great thought which might be able to give a new meaning to life, a new meaning to death, and to console mankind.

Every man is half God, half man; he is both spirit and flesh. That is why the mystery of Christ is not simply a mystery for a particular creed: It is universal.

My principal anguish, and the wellspring of all my joys and sorrows, has been the incessant merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh.

Nothing is nearer to us than heaven. The earth is beneath our feet, and we tread upon it, but heaven is within us.

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.

A weak soul does not have the endurance to resist the flesh for very long. It grows heavy, becomes flesh itself, and the contest ends. But among responsible men, men who keep their eyes riveted day and night upon the Supreme Duty, the conflict between flesh and spirit breaks out mercilessly and may last until death.

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

Life is a crusade in the service of God. Whether we wished to or not, we set out as crusaders to free - not the Holy Sepulcher - but that God buried in matter and in our souls.

Happiness is a simple everyday miracle, like water, and we are not aware of it.

That part of Christ's nature which was profoundly human helps us to understand him and love him and to pursue his Passion as though it were our own. If he had not within him this warm human element, he would never be able to touch our hearts with such assurance and tenderness; he would not be able to become a model for our lives.

God hates a half-devil ten times more than an arch-devil!

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.