Mason’s Reviews > Zorba the Greek > Status Update

Everyday things that had lost their luster regained the brightness they had possessed the moment they emerged from God's hands. Water, women, stars, and bread returned to their primordial, mysterious source; the devine wheel regained its rotational momentum in the sky.

p.56
I joined him in feeling entirely happy in my motionless silence, surrendering myself to the uncertain, rose-lit suggestions of dawn. The whole of existence in these magical instances seems featherlight, the earth as uncongealed and fluffed out as a cloud that continually alters its shape and is remodeled by every puff of wind.

p.55
“He seemed submerged in dense elation, having surrendered himself with tranquil passivity to a half obscured river that moved as sluggish as honey. The entire world—earth, water, thoughts, people—was flowing toward a distant sea, and Zorba was flowing happily with it, offering NO RESISTANCE, asking no questions”

p.45 “One thing at a time in a proper order. Right now we’ve got pilaf in front of us;let our minds be pilaf. Tomorrow we’ll have lignite in front of us, so let our minds, the., be lignite. No half measures—understand?”

p.43 “The body, too, has a soul Take pity on it; it’s our donkey, you know. If you don’t feed your donkey, it will abandon you halfway to your destination.” Body=Your “Donkey”

p.42 “Yet my heart was slowly being aroused. Dark voices rose from inside me and I knew the caller. Whenever I remained alone for a moment, he [ego], suffering from unmentionable desires and vehement, exaggerated hopes, moaned inside me, expecting me to bring him salvation.”

p.30
“God, instead of hurling his thunderbolt to incinerate us, gives us freedom. I don’t understand anything.”