Zorba the Greek Quotes

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Zorba the Greek Quotes
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“I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right and to realize of a sudden that in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“If a woman sleeps alone it puts a shame on all men. God has a very big heart, but there is one sin He will not forgive. If a woman calls a man to her bed and he will not go.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“God changes his appearance every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“I was happy, I knew that. While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realize - sometimes with astonishment - how happy we had been.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“You can knock on a deaf man's door forever.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and *look* for trouble.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“Look, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. ‘What, grandfather!� I exclaimed. ‘Planting an almond tree?� And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: ‘My son, I carry on as if I should never die.� I replied: ‘And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.�
Which of us was right, boss?”
― Zorba the Greek
Which of us was right, boss?”
― Zorba the Greek
“When everything goes wrong, what a joy to test your soul and see if it has endurance and courage! An invisible and all-powerful enemy—some call him God, others the Devil, seem to rush upon us to destroy us; but we are not destroyed.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“You have everything but one thing: madness. A man needs a little madness or else - he never dares cut the rope and be free.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean sea.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“إن لكل انسان حماقاته ، لكن الحماقة الكبرى في رأيي هي ألا يكون للإنسان حماقات.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“Every man has his folly, but the greatest folly of all � is not to have one.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“All those who actually live the mysteries of life haven't the time to write, and all those who have the time don't live them! D'you see?”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“the highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic and more despairing: Sacred Awe!”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“كلّ ماينبغي لكي تشعر بأن هذه هي السعادة، هو أن يكون لك قلب راض ونفس قانعة”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“Free yourself from one passion to be dominated by another and nobler one. But is not that, too, a form of slavery? To sacrifice oneself to an idea, to a race, to God? Or does it mean that the higher the model the longer the longer the tether of our slavery?”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“ما أمتع الحزن الذي يملأ النفس من مرأى المطر الهادئ المتصل! إن جميع الذكريات المريرة، الراسبة في أعماق النقس تطفو حينئذ فوق السطح، ذكرى الاصدقاء الذين ذهبوا، والابتسامات الحلوة التي ذبلت، والآمال العزيزة التي فقدت اجنحتها”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“No, you're not free," he said. "The string you're tied to is perhaps no longer than other people's. That's all. You're on a long piece of string, boss; you come and go, and think you're free, but you never cut the string in two. And when people don't cut that string . . ."
"I'll cut it some day!" I said defiantly, because Zorba's words had touched an open wound in me and hurt.
"It's difficult, boss, very difficult. You need a touch of folly to do that; folly, d'you see? You have to risk everything! But you've got such a strong head, it'll always get the better of you. A man's head is like a grocer; it keeps accounts: I've paid so much and earned so much and that means a profit of this much or a loss of that much! The head's a careful little shopkeeper; it never risks all it has, always keeps something in reserve. It never breaks the string. Ah no! It hangs on tight to it, the bastard! If the string slips out of its grasp, the head, poor devil, is lost, finished! But if a man doesn't break the string, tell me, what flavor is left in life? The flavor of camomile, weak camomile tea! Nothing like rum-that makes you see life inside out!”
― Zorba the Greek
"I'll cut it some day!" I said defiantly, because Zorba's words had touched an open wound in me and hurt.
"It's difficult, boss, very difficult. You need a touch of folly to do that; folly, d'you see? You have to risk everything! But you've got such a strong head, it'll always get the better of you. A man's head is like a grocer; it keeps accounts: I've paid so much and earned so much and that means a profit of this much or a loss of that much! The head's a careful little shopkeeper; it never risks all it has, always keeps something in reserve. It never breaks the string. Ah no! It hangs on tight to it, the bastard! If the string slips out of its grasp, the head, poor devil, is lost, finished! But if a man doesn't break the string, tell me, what flavor is left in life? The flavor of camomile, weak camomile tea! Nothing like rum-that makes you see life inside out!”
― Zorba the Greek
“إن في جسدك روحاً، ويجب أن تشفق عليها، أعطها شيئاً لتأكله أيها الرئيس، فإذا لم تطعمها تركتك في نصف الطريق”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“تخلصت من الوطن ، تخلصت من الكاهن ، تخلصت من الماء . إنني أغربل نفسي . كلما تقدم بي العمر ، غربلت نفسي أكثر . إنني أتطهر ، كيف أقول لك ؟ إنني أتحرر ، إنني أصبح إِنساناً”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“When shall I at last retire into solitude alone, without companions, without joy and without sorrow, with only the sacred certainty that all is a dream? When, in my rags—without desires—shall I retire contented into the mountains? When, seeing that my body is merely sickness and crime, age and death, shall I—free, fearless, and blissful—retire to the forest? When? When, oh when?”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“I should learn to run, to wrestle, to swim, to ride horses, to row, to drive a car, to fire a rifle. I should fill my soul with flesh. I should fill my flesh with soul. In fact, I should reconcile at last within me the two internal antagonists.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“إن الإله الرحيم كمل ترى ، لا تستطيع طبقات السماء السبع وطبقات الأرض السبع أن تسعه .
لكن قلب الإنسان يسعه . إذن احذر يا ألكسيس ، من أن تجرح ذات يوم قلب الإنسان”
― Zorba the Greek
لكن قلب الإنسان يسعه . إذن احذر يا ألكسيس ، من أن تجرح ذات يوم قلب الإنسان”
― Zorba the Greek
“يا لمرارة الافتراق ببطء عن الأحباء! من الأفضل الانقطاع عنهم مرّةً واحدة، والعودة إلى الوحدة.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“شقيٌّ من ليس في داخله منبع السعادة
شقي من يريد أن يعجب الآخرين !
شقي من لا يحس أن هذه الحياة والحياة الأخرى إن هما إلا حياة واحدة”
― Zorba the Greek
شقي من يريد أن يعجب الآخرين !
شقي من لا يحس أن هذه الحياة والحياة الأخرى إن هما إلا حياة واحدة”
― Zorba the Greek
“دع الناس مطمئنين, أيها الرئيس لاتفتح أعينهم, فما الذي سيرون؟ بؤسهم! دعهم إذن مستمرين في أحلامهم.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“Let people be, boss; don't open their eyes. And supposing you did, what'd they see? Their misery! Leave their eyes closed, boss, and let them go on dreaming!”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek
“قليل من الأشياء, وكثيرٌ من القلب.”
― Zorba the Greek
― Zorba the Greek