“By believing passionately in something that does not yet exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”
Nikos Kazantzakis“Love responsibility. Say it is my duty and mine alone to save the world. And if is not saved, it’s my own fault.”
Nikos Kazantzakis“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.”
Nikos Kazantzakis“Reach what you cannot.”
Nikos Kazantzakis
Naxos Island – Report to Greco
“I liked its shape and its name; how at that time could I guess what a crucial influence, that random, fateful choice, would have had in all my life!”
“This island was such a blessing; tranquility, innocent faces, melons by the pile, the peaches, the figs, the calm sea. I would gaze at the people, never did these folks get a fright from a quake or a Turk, their eyes had nothing fiery about them. Freedom here had quenched the thirst for freedom, and the happiness of life spread wide like sleeping water. If it ever was disturbed, it never became turbulent.”
These are references of Nikos Kazantzakis in the farmhouse which was hosted in 1897 (today Villa Thimianos) and come from the chapter “Naxos” in Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis, Ed. Eleni Kazantzakis, Athens 1965, p. 112
“Safety was the first gift I sensed while wandering around on
Naxos safety and, after a few days, boredom.”
“We made an acquaintance with a wealthy Naxiot, Lazaros,
who kept us wonderful grove in Eggares, an hour from Chora,
he invited us, we stayed for two weeks.
What an abundance, the trees laden with fruit, what a bliss!”
“Crete became a tale, a distant fiery cloud.
Never scare, bloodshed and struggles for freedom,
everything melted and dissolved
within this sleepy bliss of Naxos…”
In the locker of the mansion I found a stack of yellowed
books; I took them, I sat beneath an olive tree,
I browsed them with craving …