We, who are dying, are doing better, than they, who…

We, who are dying, are doing better, than they, who will live. For Crete doesn’t need householders, she needs madmen like us. These madmen make Crete immortal.

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Freedom and Death (1956)

Other Nikos Kazantzakis Quotes

Which of the two eternal roads shall I choose? Suddenly I know that my whole life hangs on this decision — the life of the entire Universe.
Of the two, I choose the ascending path. Why? For no intelligible reason, without any certainty; I know how ineffectual the mind and all the small certainties of man can be in this moment of crisis.
I choose the ascending path because my heart drives me toward it. “Upward! Upward! Upward!” my heart shouts, and I follow it trustingly. - View Quote Details on Which of the two eternal roads shall I choose? Suddenly…
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…
We do not struggle for ourselves, nor for our race, not even for humanity.
We do not struggle for Earth, nor for ideas. All these are the precious yet provisional stairs of our ascending God, and they crumble away as soon as he steps upon them in his ascent.
In the smallest lightning flash of our lives, we feel all of God treading upon us, and suddenly we understand: if we all desire it intensely, if we organize all the visible and invisible powers of earth and fling them upward, if we all battle together like fellow combatants eternally vigilant — then the Universe might possibly be saved.
It is not God who will save us — it is we who will save God, by battling, by creating, and by transmuting matter into spirit. - View Quote Details on We do not struggle for ourselves, nor for our race,…
Everything you do reverberates throughout a thousand destinies. As you walk, you cut open and create that river bed into which the stream of your descendants shall enter and flow. - View Quote Details on Everything you do reverberates throughout a thousand destinies. As you…
“Love responsibility. Say: “It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it is not saved, then I alone am to blame.”
“Love each man according to his contribution in the struggle. Do not seek friends; seek comrades-in-arms. - View Quote Details on “Love responsibility. Say: “It is my duty, and mine alone,…
I am not alone in my fear, nor alone in my hope, nor alone in my shouting. A tremendous host, an onrush of the Universe fears, hopes, and shouts with me.
I am an improvised bridge, and when Someone passes over me, I crumble away behind Him. - View Quote Details on I am not alone in my fear, nor alone in…
Speak straight and clear! I only hear that manly prayer
which like a huge fist breaks my head against the stones. - View Quote Details on Speak straight and clear! I only hear that manly prayer
which…
But we, O blockhead, with dogged spite and armored love
shall force those deaf dark powers to grow ears and hear us!
I know that God is earless, eyeless, and heartless too,
a brainless Dragon Worm that crawls on earth and hopes
in anguish and then in secret that we’ll give him soul,
for then he, too, may sprout ears, eyes, to match his growth,
but God is clay in my ten fingers, and I mould him! - View Quote Details on But we, O blockhead, with dogged spite and armored love
shall…
Her green eyes fluttered swiftly twice or thrice, then glazed,
her mouth gaped open, bleating, then her jaws hung loose
and retched up all her soul in lumps of clotting blood. - View Quote Details on Her green eyes fluttered swiftly twice or thrice, then glazed,
her…
We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life. As soon as we are born the return begins, at once the setting forth and the coming back; we die in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of life is death! But as soon as we are born we begin the struggle to create, to compose, to turn matter into life; we are born in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of ephemeral life is immortality! In the temporary living organism these two streams collide… both opposing forces are holy. It is our duty, therefore, to grasp that vision which can embrace and harmonize these two enormous, timeless, and indestructible forces, and with this vision to modulate our thinking and our action. - View Quote Details on We come from a dark abyss, we end in a…