- Zorba sees everything every day as if for the first time
- I don't believe in anything or anyone; only in Zorba. Not because Zorba is better than the others; not at all, not a little bit! He's a brute like the rest! But I believe in Zorba because he's the only being I have in my power, the only one I know. All the rest are ghosts.
- While experiencing happiness, we have difficult in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realize - sometimes with astonishment - how happy we had been
- ...all that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart
- This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To take part in the Christmas festivities and, after eating and drinking well, to escape on your own far from all the snares, to have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right: and to realize of a sudden that, in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale
- I'm laughing at the thought of you laughing and that's how laughing never stops on this earth
- Nowadays I say this man is a good fellow, that one's a bastard. They can be Greeks or Bulgars or Turks, it doesn't matter. Is he good? Or is he bad? That's the only thing I ask nowadays. And as I grow older - I'd swear this on the last crust I eat - I feel I shan't even go on asking that! Whether a man's good or bad, I'm sorry for him, for all of 'em.
- The aim of man and matter is to create joy, according to Zorba - others would say "to create spirit," but that comes to the same thing on another plane.
- What's happening today, this minute, that's what I care about. I say: 'What are you doing at this moment, Zorba?' 'I'm sleeping.' 'Well, sleep well.' 'What are you doing at this moment, Zorba?' 'I'm kissing a woman.' Well, kiss her well, Zorba! And forget all the rest while you're doing it; there's nothing else on earth only you and her! Get on with it!"
- Happiness is doing your duty, and the harder the duty the greater the happiness
What I got out of it
- A truly enjoyable read and Zorba is one of the most enthusiastic and compelling characters I have come to know so far. He is so lively and full of passion it makes you want to enjoy life more and live, at least somewhat, as Zorba did