Quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis

Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes that see reality.

I expect nothing.  I fear nothing.  I am free.

God changes appearances every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises. One moment he is a glass of fresh water, the next, your son bouncing on your knees or an enchanting woman, or perhaps merely a morning walk.

You have everything but one thing: madness.  A man needs a little madness or else - he never dares cut the rope and be free.

To cleave that sea [the Aegean] in the gentle autumnal season, murmuring the name of each islet, is to my mind the joy most apt to transport the heart of man into paradise.

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.

I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free.

The highest point a man can obtain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic and more despairing: Sacred Awe!

As I watched the seagulls, I thought: "That's the road to take; find the absolute rhythm and follow it with absolute trust."

Everything in the world has a hidden meaning. . . . Men, animals, trees, stars, they are all hieroglyphics. When you see them you do not understand them. You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. It is only years later that you understand.