At every moment of crisis an array of men risk…

At every moment of crisis an array of men risk their lives in the front ranks as standard-bearers of God to fight and take upon themselves the whole responsibility of the battle.
Once long ago it was the priests, the kings, the noblemen, or the burghers who created civilizations and set divinity free.
Today God is the common worker made savage by toil and rage and hunger

Sourced, The Saviors of God (1923)

Other Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

O Sun, great Oriental, my proud mind’s golden cap,
I love to wear you cocked askew, to play and burst
in song throughout our lives, and so rejoice our hearts. - View Quote Details on O Sun, great Oriental, my proud mind’s golden cap,
I love…
I am not the light, I am the night; but a flame stabs through my entrails and consumes me. I am the night devoured by light. - View Quote Details on I am not the light, I am the night; but…
Pain is not the only essence of our God, nor is hope in a future life or a life on this earth, neither joy nor victory. Every religion that holds up to worship one of these primordial aspects of God narrows our hearts and our minds.
The essence of our God is STRUGGLE. Pain, joy, and hope unfold and labor within this struggle, world without end. - View Quote Details on Pain is not the only essence of our God, nor…
May he be cursed on earth who gives his trust to virtue,
that bankrupt crone who takes our life’s pure gold and gives
but bad receipts for payment in the lower world.
Ah, passers-by that stroll, travelers that come and go,
all that I had, I placed on virtue, and lost the game! - View Quote Details on May he be cursed on earth who gives his trust…
A woman’s body is a dark and monstrous mystery;
between her supple thighs a heavy whirlpool swirls,
two rivers crash, and woe to him who slips and falls! - View Quote Details on A woman’s body is a dark and monstrous mystery;
between her…
Gather together in your heart all terrors, recompose all details. Salvation is a circle; close it! - View Quote Details on Gather together in your heart all terrors, recompose all details…
Life is a crusade in the service of God. Whether we wished to or not, we set out as crusaders to free — not the Holy Sepulchre — but that God buried in matter and in our souls.
Every body, every soul is a Holy Sepulcher. Every seed of grain is a Holy Sepulchre; let us free it! The brain is a Holy Sepulchre, God sprawls within it and battles with death; let us run to his assistance! - View Quote Details on Life is a crusade in the service of God. Whether…
All my life I struggled to stretch my mind to the breaking point, until it began to creak, in order to create a great thought which might be able to give a new meaning to life, a new meaning to death, and to console mankind. - View Quote Details on All my life I struggled to stretch my mind to…
With silent strides Odysseus then shot back the bolt,
passed lightly through the courtyard and sped down the street.
Some saw him take the graveyard’s zigzag mountain path,
some saw him leap on rocks that edged the savage shore,
some visionaries saw him in the dead of night
swimming and talking secretly with the sea-demons,
but only a small boy saw him in a lonely dream
sit crouched and weeping by the dark sea’s foaming edge. - View Quote Details on With silent strides Odysseus then shot back the bolt,
passed lightly…
I subdue matter and force it to become my mind’s good medium. I rejoice in plants, in animals, in man and in gods, as though they were my children. I feel all the universe nestling about me and following me as though it were my own body. - View Quote Details on I subdue matter and force it to become my mind’s…