I tried to establish order over the chaos of my imagination, but this essence, the same that presented itself to me still hazily when I was a child, has always struck me as the very heart of truth. It is our duty to set ourselves an end beyond our individual concerns, beyond our convenient, agreeable habits, higher than our own selves, and disdaining laughter, hunger, even death, to toil night and day to attain that end. No, not to attain it. The self-respecting soul, as soon as he reaches his goal, places it still further away. Not to attain it, but never to halt in the ascent. Only thus does life acquire nobility and oneness. Nikos Kazantzakis
Some Similar Quotes
  1. Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection. - Jane Austen

  2. There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do if he chooses, and that is his duty; not by manoeuvring and finessing, but by vigour and resolution. - Mr. Knightley - Jane Austen

  3. Always seek justice, but love only mercy. To love justice and hate mercy is but a doorway to more injustice. - Criss Jami

  4. On my honor, I will do my best To do my duty To God and my country - Unknown

  5. So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must, ' The youth whispers, 'I can. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

More Quotes By Nikos Kazantzakis
  1. 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.

  2. You can knock on a deaf man's door forever.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. Once more I realized to what an extent earthly happiness is made to the measure of man. It is not a rare bird which we must pursue at one moment in heaven, at the next in our minds. Happiness is a domestic bird found in...

Related Topics