The Last Temptation of Christ Quotes

“You will, Judas, my brother. God will give you the strength, as much as you lack, because it is necessary—it is necessary for me to be killed and for you to betray me. We two must save the world. Help me."

Judas bowed his head. After a moment he asked, "If you had to betray your master, would you do it?"

Jesus reflected for a long time. Finally he said, "No, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to. That is why God pitied me and gave me the easier task: to be crucified.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“If I were fire, I would burn; if I were a woodcutter, I would strike. But I am a heart, and I love.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“When everyone drowns and I'm the only one to escape, God is protecting me. When everyone else is saved and I'm the only one to drown, God is protecting me then too.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Only one woman exists in this world, one woman with countless faces.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Truly, everything in this world depended on time. Time ripened all. If you had time, you succeeded in working the human mud internally and turning it into spirit. Then you did not fear death. If you did not have time, you perished.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“My principle anguish and the source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“I say one thing, you write another, and those who read you understand still something else! I say: cross, death, kingdom of heaven, God...and what do you understand? Each of you attaches his own suffering, interests and desires to each of these sacred words, and my words disappear, my soul is lost. I can't stand it any longer!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“We are not men, to have need of another, an eternal life; we are women, and for us one moment with man we love is everlasting Paradise, one moment far from the man we love is everlasting hell. It is here on earth that we women love out eternity”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“What is truth? What is falsehood? Whatever gives wings to men, whatever produces great works and great souls and lifts up a man's height above the earth - that's true. Whatever clips off man's wings - that's false.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Never in my life have I feared death as much as I feared that resurrection.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Life on earth means: the sprouting of wings.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“A prophet is the one who, when everyone else despairs, hopes. And when everyone else hopes, he despairs. You’ll ask me why. It’s because he has mastered the Great Secret: that the Wheel turns.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“If the soul within us does not change, Judas, the world outside us will never change. The enemy is within, the Romans are within, salvation starts from within!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“The doors of heaven and hell are adjacent and identical.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“The more he approached the people and perceived their anger-filled eyes and the dark, tortured fierceness of their expressions, the more his heart stirred, the more his bowels flooded with deep sympathy and love. These are the people, he reflected. They are all brothers, every one of them, but they do not know it—and that is why they suffer. If they knew it, what celebrations there would be, what hugging and kissing, what happiness!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Man cannot sprout wings unless he has first reached the brink of the abyss!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Love’s feet are always pleased to step on ashes.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“لقد جاء أحدهم، لا شك بأنه الرب، الرب....أم هل كان الشيطان؟ فمن يستطيع أن يميز بينهما؟ إنهما يتبادلان وجهيهما، أحياناً يصبح الرب مسربلاً بالسواد. ويشع الضياء من الشيطان، و يتبلبل عقل الإنسان. إنهما يمثلان دربين، فأيهما يسلك، و أي دربٍ يختار؟”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“تصور الحيرة التي لابد أن الرب المسكين يمر بها بدوره! لا شك أنه تورط في خلق العالم! ان السمك يصرخ: "لا تعمني يا رب! لا تجعلني أدخل الشباك!"، ويصرخ الصياد: "اعم السمك يارب! اجعله يلج الشباك!"، فالي أي منهما يجب أن ينصت؟ أحياناً يلبي طلب السمك! وطوراً يلبي رغبة الصياد! بهذه الطريقة يُسَيّر العالم!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“An old fisherman heard all this and shook his head. “This is what happens to those who don’t get married,” he said. “All they want to do is save the world, by hook or by crook. The sperm rises to their heads and attacks their brains. For God’s sake, all of you: get married, let your forces loose on women and have children in order to calm yourselves!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“There, in the desert, there’s hunger, thirst, prostrations—and God. Here there’s food, wine, women—and God. Everywhere God. So, why go look for him in the desert?”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“They had no fear of death, and whoever has no fear of death—the centurion had often meditated on this here in the East—whoever has no fear of death is immortal.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“God replies every time we question him, but our flesh is bemired and almost deaf: we do not hear.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“أي رجل أنت؟ أمازلت تتفوه بحماقات؟ يجب أن تخجل من نفسك! انك لم تتحل يوماً بالشجاعة لتقف وقفة رجل وترفض الاعتماد علي أحد! انك ان لم تكن متشبثاً بأذيال أمك، فأنت تتشبث بأذيالي، أو بأذيال الرب! انك عاجز عن الوقوف وحدك! لأنك خائف! انك لا تجرؤ علي الغوص عميقاً في روحك أو في جسدك في هذه الحالة، لأنك خائف!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Şeytan yaşlanınca keşiş oluverirmiş.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Take care, Friars!” he cried. “If the yearning is broken off for even an instant, the wings become chains again. Stay vigilant, fight, keep the torch of your soul burning day and night. Strike! Forge the wings! I’m going-I am in a hurry to speak to God. I’m going… These are my final words: Strike! Forge the wings!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“At night the jackals came and ate their feet, and the next morning crows flew down and ate their eyes.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“مرحي يا ابن ابراهيم، أيها الخسيس، الحاقد، المجنون أبداً بالريح ... وأنت أيها المتهور، المهذار، الجشع ... وأنت يا شارب الحليب الورع، أنت لا تقتل أو تسرق أو تزني لأنك جبان، كل فضائلك هي بنات جبنك! ... وانت أيها الحمار المغفل، الذي ينكسر ظهرك من كثرة الضرب، أنت تحث السير بالرغم من الجوع والعطش والبرد والسوط، كاداً غير آبه باحترام ذاتك، وتكتفي بلعق أسفل القدر، كل فضائلك هي وليدة فقرك! ... وأنت أيها الثعلب الماكر، أنت تقف خارج باب عرين الأسد، عرين يهوه، ولا تفكر بالدخول ... وأنت أيها الخروف الأحمق، انك تثغو وتتبع رباً ينوي ان يأكك! ... وأنت يا ابن لاوي، دجال، تتاجر بالرب، تبيعه بالتقسيط، صاحب نُزُل، يقدم الرب للرجال، وكأنه مشروب حتي يسكروا ويفتحوا لك أكياس نقودهم وقلوبهم! أنت يا أوغد الأوغاد! ... وأنت أيها الزاهد، العنيد، المتعصب، الخبيث، تنظر الي وجهك وتختلق الهاً خبيثاً متعصباً وعنيداً، ثم تسجد وتعبده، لانه يشبهك! ... وأنت يا من افتتحت روحك الخالدة محلاً للصيرفة، تجلس علي العتبة، وتدخل يدك الي الجراب، وتمنح الصدقات للفقراء، وتقرض الرب، وتحتفظ بدفتر حسابات، وتدون: "أعطيت الكثير من الاموال حسنة، الي فلان وفلان، في يوم كذا وكذا، وفي الساعة كذا وكيت"، وتوصي أن يوضع دفتر حسابك معك في الكفن لكي تفتحه أمام الرب، وتقدم له فاتورتك، وتجمع ملايينك الخالدة! ... وأنت أيها الكاذب المدعي، انك تطأ بقدميك كل وصايا الرب، فتقتل، وتسرق، وترتكب الزنا، وبعد ذلك تنفجر باكياً، تضرب علي صدرك، وتتناول قيثارتك، وتحول خطيئتك الي اغنية، أيها الشيطان الداهية، أنت تعلم علم اليقين أن الرب يسامح المغنين، مهما يفعلون، لأنه ببساطة يمكن أن يموت اشتياقاً لسماع اغنية! ... وأنا، أنا أحمق مجنون، لا يشعر بالمسئولية، مغرور، تركت زوجتي وأولادي لأبحث عن المسيح ... اننا جميعاً: "شياطين وملائكة" !”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“This rebel would but toss his head, and men,slaves,horses, towers...all the accursed levels above him...would come tumbling down. God always works in this way. Deep in the foundations of wrong he buries the small despised cry of justice.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ

“Good Lord, just think what poor old God must go through also,” he said with a laugh. “He certainly got himself in hot water when he created the world. The fish screams, Don’t blind me, Lord; don’t let me enter the nets! The fisherman screams, Blind the fish, Lord; make him enter the nets! Which one is God supposed to listen to? Sometimes he listens to the fish, sometimes to the fisherman—and that’s the way the world goes round!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ