I believe I'm a caterpillar buried deep down under the ground. The entire earth is above me, crushing me and I begin to bore through the soil, making a passage to the surface so that I can penetrate the crust and issue into the light. It's hard work boring through the entire earth, but I'm able to be patient because I have a strong premonition that as soon as I do issue into the light I shall become a butterfly.
Nikos KazantzakisIt doesn't matter whether or not you have a head, you must wear the right sort of hat
Nikos KazantzakisHow could I, who loved life so intensely, have let myself be entangled for so long in that balderdash of books and paper blackened with ink!
Nikos KazantzakisLook, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. โWhat, grandfather!โ I exclaimed. โPlanting an almond tree?โ And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: โMy son, I carry on as if I should never die.โ I replied: โAnd I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.โ Which of us was right, boss?
Nikos KazantzakisOnce more there sounded within me the terrible warning that there is only one life for all men, that there is only one life for all men, that there is no other and that all that can be enjoyed must be enjoyed here. In eternity no other chance will be given to us.
Nikos KazantzakisAll the political, social, and economic improvements, all the technical progress cannot have any regenerating significance, so long as our inner life remains as it is at present. The more the intelligence unveils and violates the secrets of Nature, the more the danger increases and the heart shrinks.
Nikos Kazantzakis