# Nikos Kazantzakis's best-known quotes (with the work)

"I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free", "I said to the almond tree" and "What does free mean?": the sentences by Nikos Kazantzakis everyone knows, from The Saviors of God and The Odyssey to Report to Greco, each with the work it comes from.

- 37 votes · 16 items
- Jul 21, 2021 · Παναγιώτης Παπαδόπουλος
- https://even.best/en/l/5179/nikos-kazantzakis-s-best-known-quotes-with-the-work

## Top 16

1. **I said to the almond tree: "Sister, speak to me of God." And the almond tree blossomed.** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — "Report to Greco", 1961.
2. **We have only a single moment at our disposal. Let us make that moment an eternity. There is no other immortality.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — "Report to Greco", 1961.
3. **Even if I were sure I would go to Paradise, I would beg God to let me take the longest road…** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — "Report to Greco", 1961.
4. **The highest virtue is not to be free, but to fight for freedom.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Essay "The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises", 1927.
5. **Do not stoop to asking: "Will we win? Will we be defeated?" Fight!** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Essay "The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises", 1927.
6. **If you can, look fear in the eye, and fear will take fright and flee.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — "Report to Greco", 1961.
7. **I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Epitaph on his grave in Heraklion, from "The Saviors of God", 1927.
8. **Once I saw a bee drowned in honey, and I understood.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — "Report to Greco", 1961.
9. **The human heart is a tangle of caterpillars: blow on it, Christ, and let them become butterflies!** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Novel "The Fratricides", 1963.
10. **Rich is the one who does not desire wealth; poor is the rich man who desires still more.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Novel "God's Pauper: St. Francis of Assisi", 1956.
11. **What is happiness? To live through every unhappiness. What is light? To look at every darkness with an unclouded eye.** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Essay "The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises", 1927.
12. **Freedom means fighting on earth without hope!** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Epic poem "The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel", 1938.
13. **What a terrible climb from the ape to man, from man to God.** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — "Report to Greco", 1961.
14. **What does free mean? Someone who is not afraid of death.** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Novel "The Fratricides", 1963.
15. **There are no ideas; there are only people who carry ideas, and the ideas take on the stature of the person who carries them.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Novel "The Fratricides", 1963.
16. **We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life.** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Essay "The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises", 1927.

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