A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
Topics: Belief
Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
Topics: Realism
I said to the almond tree, “Friend, speak to me of God,” and the almond tree blossomed.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
Topics: Power
The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
Topics: Expectation
How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea… . All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
Topics: Wine
I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
What a strange machine man is!
You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes,
and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
Nietzsche taught me to distrust every optimistic theory. I knew that [the human] heart has constant need of consolation, a need to which that super-shrewd sophist the mind is constantly ready to minister. I began to feel that every religion which promises to fulfill human desires is simply a refuge for the timid, and unworthy of a true man. … We ought, therefore, to choose the most hopeless of world views, and if by chance we are deceiving ourselves and hope does exist, so much the better. At all events, in this way man’s soul will not be humiliated, and neither God nor the devil will ever be able to ridicule it by saying that it became intoxicated like a hashish-smoker and fashioned an imaginary paradise out of naivete and cowardice—in order to cover the abyss. The faith most devoid of hope seemed to me not the truest, perhaps, but surely the most valorous. I considered the metaphysical hope alluring bait which true men do not condescend to nibble. I wanted whatever was most difficult, in other words most worthy of man, of the man who does not whine, entreat, or go about begging.
—Nikos Kazantzakis
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Martin Heidegger German Existential Philosopher
- Friedrich Nietzsche German Philosopher, Scholar
- Pythagoras Greek Philosopher
- Johann Gottfried Herder German Critic, Poet
- Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi German Philosopher
- Arthur Schopenhauer German Philosopher
- Moses Mendelssohn German Jewish Philosopher
- Immanuel Hermann Fichte German Philosopher
- Immanuel Kant Prussian German Philosopher
- Wilhelm von Humboldt German Statesman, Scholar
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