Truly, everything in this world depended on time. Time ripened all. If you had time, you succeeded in working the human mud internally and turning it into spirit. Then you did not fear death. If you did not have time, you perished.
Nikos KazantzakisWhen everything goes wrong, what a joy to test your soul and see if it has endurance and courage! An invisible and all-powerful enemyโsome call him God, others the Devil, seem to rush upon us to destroy us; but we are not destroyed.
Nikos KazantzakisI felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.
Nikos KazantzakisLife is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and *look* for trouble.
Nikos KazantzakisThe struggle between God and man breaks out in everyone, together with the longing for reconciliation. Most often this struggle is unconscious and short-lived. 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.
Nikos Kazantzakis