“God gives the signal for battle I rush into the assault trembling. Whether I desert or fight bravely, I will always fall in battle. But this time my death is barren. With my body is lost, scattered to the wind, and my soul. The next, I go down to the earth like a fruit, like a seed. And my breath, leaving my body to rot, organizes new bodies and continues the battle.”
“Fight through things, fight through the flesh, hunger and fear, fight through virtue and sin to create God.”
(The above texts are from Nikos Kazantzakis’ Asceticism. (Salvatores Dei)
I chose them because they capture life in all its manifestations.
The battles of our lives are a choice between being cowardly or brave. We don’t have to ask whether we will win or be defeated. We just fight.
As a coward you die every day. Fear finds you everywhere, day or night, on the road or under shelter. This ugliness spreads to your environment, your work, your family.
As a brave man, if you die, it will be once. If you survive, you will be full of light. If you die, you will be a light to others around you.
I chose this quote because I believe it is behind the value of Life, Will and Death. I chose it because I believe that if we take a little bit of the thought of the greatest Greek philosophers and adapt it to our thinking, our life and our work, then all those who have the reputation of bully will simply appear small, cowardly and sterile.