The masses do not see the Sirens. They do not hear songs in the air. Blind, deaf, stooping, they pull at their oars in the hold of the earth. But the more select, the captains, harken to a Siren within them...and royally squander their lives with her.
Nikos KazantzakisIf only we know, boss, what the stones and rain and flowers say. Maybe they call-call us-and we don't hear them. When will people's ears open, boss? When shall we have our eyes open to see? When shall we open our arms to embrace everything-stones, rain, flowers, and people? What do you think about that, boss? And what do your books have to say about that?
Nikos KazantzakisI am a weak, ephemeral creature made of mud and dream. But I feel all the powers of the universe whirling within me.
Nikos KazantzakisWhen shall I at last retire into solitude alone, without companions, without joy and without sorrow, with only the sacred certainty that all is a dream? When, in my ragsโwithout desiresโshall I retire contented into the mountains? When, seeing that my body is merely sickness and crime, age and death, shall Iโfree, fearless, and blissfulโretire to the forest? When? When, oh when?
Nikos Kazantzakis