Zorba the Greek

Alexis Zorba guides the story's narrator into a new life after the narrator hires Zorba to lead a crew of men to open a mine. Our narrator is a man of the mind and pen; Zorba is a man of feeling and the body. Both expound regularly, to the delight of the other, on their philosophies of life. All the while, life—women, wine, work—goes on all around them.

A few quotes from the book:

“All those who actually live the mysteries of life haven't the time to write, and all those who have the time don't live them! D'you see?”


“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.”


“Look, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. ‘What, grandfather!' I exclaimed. ‘Planting an almond tree?' And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: ‘My son, I carry on as if I should never die.' I replied: ‘And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.'

Which of us was right, boss?”


“In religions which have lost their creative spark, the gods eventually become no more than poetic motifs or ornaments for decorating human solitude and walls.”