Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes About Soul

Quotes about: Soul

• My soul comes from better worlds and I have an incurable homesickness of the stars.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Stars, Soul, World

• The landscape affects the human psyche - the soul, the body and the innermost contemplations - like music. Every time you feel nature deeper you resonate better with her, finding new elements of balance and freedom.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Music, Soul, Balance

• What is truth? What is falsehood? Whatever gives wings to men, whatever produces great works and great souls and lifts up a man's height above the earth - that's true. Whatever clips off man's wings - that's false.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Men, Wings, Giving

  Nikos Kazantzakis, Peter Bien (1988). “The Last Temptation of Christ”, p.477, Simon and Schuster

• Three kinds of souls, three prayers: 1) I am a bow in your hands, Lord. Draw me, lest I rot. 2) Do not overdraw me, Lord. I shall break. 3) Overdraw me, Lord, and who cares if I break.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Prayer, Hands, Soul

  Nikos Kazantzakis (2012). “Report to Greco”, p.20, Simon and Schuster

• The dual substance of Christ - the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain God. [...] has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. [...] My principle anguish and source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh. [...] And my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Army, Men, Two

  "The Last Temptation of Christ". Book by Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon and Schuster, Prologue, 2012.

• The canary is like a man's soul. It sees bars around it, but instead of despairing, it sings.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Men, Soul, Bars

• What first truly stirred my soul was not fear or pain, nor was it pleasure or games; it was the yearning for freedom. I had to gain freedom-but from what, from whom? Little by little, in the course of time, I mounted freedom's rough unaccommodating ascent. To gain freedom first of all from the Turk, that was the initial step; after that, later, this new struggle began: to gain freedom from the inner Turk-from ignorance, malice and envy, from fear and laziness, from dazzling false ideas; and finally from idols, all of them, even the most revered and beloved.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Pain, Struggle, Ignorance

• When everything goes wrong, what a joy to test your soul and see if it has endurance and courage! An invisible and all-powerful enemy—some call him God, others the Devil, seem to rush upon us to destroy us; but we are not destroyed.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Powerful, Joy, Soul

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

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Soul, Cry, Commentary

  1965 Report to Greco.

• I say one thing, you write another, and those who read you understand still something else! I say: cross, death, kingdom of heaven, God...and what do you understand? Each of you attaches his own suffering, interests and desires to each of these sacred words, and my words disappear, my soul is lost. I can't stand it any longer!

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Writing, Heaven, Soul

  Nikos Kazantzakis, Peter Bien (1988). “The Last Temptation of Christ”, p.415, Simon and Schuster

• I should learn to run, to wrestle, to swim, to ride horses, to row, to drive a car, to fire a rifle. I should fill my soul with flesh. I should fill my flesh with soul. In fact, I should reconcile at last within me the two internal antagonists.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Running, Horse, Fire

• The human soul is heavy, clumsy, held in the mud of the flesh. Its perceptions are still coarse and brutish. It can divine nothing clearly, nothing with certainty.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Soul, Perception, Flesh

  Nikos Kazantzakis, Carl Wildman (1953). “Zorba the Greek”, p.7, Simon and Schuster

• I loved my body and did not want it to perish; I loved my soul and did not want it to decay. I have fought to reconcile these two primordial forces.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Two, Soul, Decay

  Nikos Kazantzakis, Peter Bien (1988). “The Last Temptation of Christ”, p.1, Simon and Schuster

• A slave's soul has no worth, my brothers; it lacks strength to tread on this great earth with gallantry and freedom. I pity the poor slaves, they're nought but airy mist, a light breeze scatters them, a fragrance knocks them down; it's only just they crawl on the earth on hands and knees. Today I'll write a hymn to God and pray for this great grace.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Brother, Writing, Light

  Nikos Kazantzakis (1958). “The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel”, New York : Simon and Schuster

• Every word is an adamantine shell which encloses a great explosive force. To discover its meaning you must let it burst inside you like a bomb and in this way liberate the soul which it imprisons.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Soul, Bombs, Shells

  Nikos Kazantzakis (2012). “Report to Greco”, p.122, Simon and Schuster

• As long as our souls remain strong, that is all that matters; as long as they don't decline. Because with the fall of certain souls in this world, the world itself will collapse. These are the pillars which support it. They are few, but enough.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Strong, Fall, Long

  Nikos Kazantzakis (2012). “Report to Greco”, p.298, Simon and Schuster

• The 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

  Struggle, Eye, Night

  Nikos Kazantzakis (2012). “The Last Temptation of Christ”, p.2, Simon and Schuster

• Be sure to live up to your reputation for honesty and goodness, because many souls who believe you to be honest and good have placed themselves in your hands.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Honesty, Believe, Hands

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