Nikos Kazantzakis Zitate (264 Zitate, seite 7)

Quelle: Report to Greco (1965), p. 434; in a few publications since 2008 part of this has been misattributed to Franz Kafka: "By believing passionately in something which still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired."

“Never acknowledge the limitations of man. Smash all boundaries! Deny whatever your eyes see. Die every moment, but say: "Death does not exist."”

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Nikos Kazantzakis buch The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)

“Thus did the Holy Harlots unhinge the brains of man,
and when they met and clashed with the pure Mountain Maidens,
they raised their white arms high, their armpits smelled of musk,
and, as the rites decreed, both fought their verbal war:
"God swoops from mountain peeks to eat and play on earth;
we are his food and drink and even his sacred toys —
and learn, O sterile maids, we are his soft, sweet mates.
Let her now leave who fears to merge with her dread God!"
The scornful savage mouth of Krino flashed reply:
"We will not leave! We guard the innocent soul of man!
God is a spirit with pure white wings, a soul that sails,
light, disembodied, deep in our thoughts, without embrace.
It's we who keep the world in bloom with virgin souls!"”

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Nikos Kazantzakis

From the Bull Ritual, Book VI, line 197
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

“I hate all virtues based on food and bloated bellies;
though food and drink are good, I'm better slaked and fed
by that inhuman flame which burns in our black bowels.
I like to name that flame which burns within me God!”

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Nikos Kazantzakis

Odysseus, Book XI, line 840
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

“If you love me, be patient. Look at the trees. Are they in a hurry to ripen their fruit?”

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Nikos Kazantzakis buch The Last Temptation of Christ

The Last Temptation of Christ (1951)

“You gave me your curse, holy Fathers. I give you a blessing: May you be as moral and religious as I am.”

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Nikos Kazantzakis

In response to attempts by leaders of the Greek Orthodox church to anathematize him, as quoted in God's Struggler : Religion in the Writings of Nikos Kazantzakis (1996) by Darren J. N. Middleton and Peter Bien, p. 12

“To cleave that sea in the gentle autumnal season, murmuring the name of each islet, is to my mind the joy most apt to transport the heart of man into paradise.”

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Nikos Kazantzakis buch Alexis Sorbas

On the Aegean Sea, in Ch. 2
Zorba the Greek (1946)

“Speak straight and clear! I only hear that manly prayer
which like a huge fist breaks my head against the stones.”

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Nikos Kazantzakis

Odysseus, Book VIII, line 530
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

“Her green eyes fluttered swiftly twice or thrice, then glazed,
her mouth gaped open, bleating, then her jaws hung loose
and retched up all her soul in lumps of clotting blood.”

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Nikos Kazantzakis

Death of Phida, Book VIII, line 410
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)