Nikos Kazantzakis was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and has left us with dozens of great books, an epic poem– and hundreds of quotes on wisdom, happiness, and other every day aspects of living.
Our 12 Favorite:
(1) A man needs a little madness, or else… he never dares cut the rope and be free.
(2) I hope nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.
(3) God changes his appearance every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises.
(4) Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.
(5) You can knock on a deaf man’s door forever.
(6) You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint the paradise, then in you go.
(7) Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean sea.
(8) Every man has his folly, but the greatest folly of all … is not to have one.
(9) Reach what you cannot.
(10) Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels.
(11) I said to the almond tree, ‘Friend, speak to me of God,’ and the almond tree blossomed.
(12) I knew that no matter what door you knock on in a Cretan village, it will be opened for you. A meal will be served in your honor, and you will sleep between the best sheets in the house. In Crete, the stranger is still the unknown god. Before him, all doors and all hearts are opened.
