Nikos Kazantzakis

"I heard the bells from the future churches, the children playing and laughing in the schoolyards [...] and here was an almond tree in bloom before me: I must reach out and cut a flowering branch. For, by believing passionately in something which still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired, whatever we have not irrigated with our blood to such a degree that it becomes strong enough to stride across the somber threshold of nonexistence."

20 likes

Source: Report to Greco. Book by Nikos Kazantzakis, 1965.

About the author

Nikos Kazantzakis

Nikos Kazantzakis

Novelist, Playwright

Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer and philosopher known for his exploration of existential themes in works like 'Zorba the Greek' and 'The Last Temptation of Christ'.

All quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis →

Same author

More quotes by Nikos Kazantzakis

See all →
Nikos Kazantzakis Novelist, Playwright

"What is love? It is not simply compassion, not simply kindness. In compassion there are two: the one who suffers and the one who feels compassion. In kindness there are two: the one who gives and the one who receives. But in love there is only one; the two join, unite, become inseparable. The I and the you vanish. To love means to lose oneself in the beloved."

Read quote
Nikos Kazantzakis Novelist, Playwright

"True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own."

Read quote