Done: I've moved to http://kathrynkoromilas.com

Kathryn Koromilas

I'm moving!

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See you over there.

Nikos Kazantzakis Quote of the Day No. 4

[From Report to Greco, Faber and Faber, 1973, p174]

Would we moderns, I wondered, ever in our turn achieve the balance and the serene, heroic vision of the ancient Greeks? Every pilgrim, after he disengages himself from his Olympic dream, after he emerges through the museum door and faces the sun of our own day, surely, and with anguish, must pose this basic question to himself. For us Greeks, however, the despondency is twofold, because we consider ourselves descendants of the ancients. Thus, we give ourselves the duty to equal our great ancestors--and even beyond this, every son's duty to surpass his parents.

More on Nikos Kazantzakis Quote of the Day No. 3

[Clarification of previous quote]

Well, Panos found the source of the quote. It appears in Kazantzakis's Travels to Japan and China. I've only got a Greek copy in front of me - have no idea if it has been translated into English - and Kazantzakis is on his way to Kyoto, expectant, and contemplative on the joys of travel. The quote comes at the end of a paragraph that discusses the "thrill-of-the-chase" element to travel, on the one hand, and on the other hand, says that travel is like wine - you drink and your can't imagine what dramas will appear in your head. Of course, he says, when travelling you always find what is already within you. Without really wanting to, he says, from the countless impressions that arrest your eyes, you always chose those that respond to your own needs and to the curiosity of your soul. Objective truth, he suggests, exists on photo booths and in souls that gaze at the world without emotion, without a connection. *And here we are getting close to the leadup to today's quote* Whoever aches and loves conspires in secret with the landscape he sees, with the peole he meets, and the events he choses to witness. *And now the quote of the day* That is why, every good traveller creates the country in which he travels.

Nikos Kazantzakis Quote of the Day No. 3

Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels

Charlie Williams is "King of the Road"

Charlie Williams launched KING OF THE ROAD, the third installment of his "Mangel trilogy." The notorious Steve Kane was present.

Nikos Kazantzakis Quote of the Day No. 2

Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.

Nikos Kazantzakis

Nikos Kazantzakis Quote of the Day No. 1

Leading up to the great man's birthday on February 18 thought I'd spend the next few days reading up on him. I'll post a quote a day, kicking off with his most famous one. One that appears on t-shirts in the tourist stores in Plaka.

I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free.

- Nikos Kazantzakis

Of course, Nikos, I think, struggled to achieve this sense of freedom. He really really wanted to be recognised for his work. He chased after that Nobel prize, he wanted it desperately. But I think he did always struggle to overcome himself, his humanity, to release. I struggle with this. Is it possible to achieve?

Nikos Dimou, a prominent Greek thinker who recently started his own blog, has been contemplating the proximity of death and the desire for more life, more interaction, more more more. Having spent an entire life learning, reading, meeting people, how can one easily give it all up?

Is it possible to live fully and yet not expect more life and not fear the end of life?

The Danes, free speech, and a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Found this comment and thought it was fitting. It dates back to 1905 and was spoken by a Swedish journalist, Johan Janzon, at the "Tenth International Congress of the Press" first published in The Athanaeum, London, I found it in the journal American Journalism Vol 22, No. 1.

There is nothing so foolish as a duel. For the man who insults another, not the man who is insulted, is dishonoured.