Nil Tuncel

“Tell me what you do with the food you eat, and I'll tell you who you are. Some turn their food into fat and manure, some into work and good humor, and others, I'm told, into God. So there must be three sorts of men. I'm not one of the worst, boss, nor yet one of the best. I'm somewhere in between the two. What I eat I turn into work and good humor. That's not too bad, after all!'

He looked at me wickedly and started laughing.

'As for you, boss,' he said, 'I think you do your level best to turn what you eat into God. But you can't quite manage it, and that torments you. The same thing's happening to you as happened to the crow.'

'What happened to the crow, Zorba?'

'Well, you see, he used to walk respectably, properly - well, like a crow. But one day he got it into his head to try and strut about like a pigeon. And from that time on the poor fellow couldn't for the life of him recall his own way of walking. He was all mixed up, don't you see? He just hobbled about.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

“Her şeye hazır bulunan ve kimden ne gelebileceğini bilen bir insanı sarsmak mümkün müdür?”
― Sabahattin Ali, Kürk Mantolu Madonna

“He dejado de acordarme de lo que ayer ocurrió y de preguntarme qué ocurrirá mañana. Lo que ocurre hoy, en el minuto presente, es lo que me interesa. Yo digo: ¿Qué haces Zorba en este momento? Duermo. ¡Pues, entonces, duérmete bien! ¿Qué haces en este momento, Zorba? Trabajo. ¡Pues entonces, trabaja bien! ¿Y ahora qué haces, Zorba? Estoy besando a una mujer. ¡Pues entonces, bésala bien, Zorba, olvídate de todo, que en el mundo sólo existís ella y tú, hala!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

“Dünyanın en basit, en zavallı, hatta en ahmak adamı bile, insanı hayretten hayrete düşürecek ne müthiş ve karışık bir ruha maliktir. Niçin bunu anlamaktan bu kadar kaçıyor ve insan dedikleri mahluku anlaşılması ve hakkında hüküm verilmesi en kolay şeylerden biri zannediyoruz?”
― Sabahattin Ali, Kürk Mantolu Madonna