By means of poetry all this suffering and effort could be transformed into dream; no matter how much of the ephemeral existed, poetry could immortalize it by turning it into song. Only two or three primitive passions had governed me until this time: fear, the struggle to conquer fear, and the yearning for freedom. But now two new passions were kindled inside me: beauty and the thirst for learning.

He never became a consistent communist but visited the Soviet Union and stayed with the Left Opposition politician and writer Victor Serge. He gained renewed fame with the 1988 Martin Scorsese adaptation of his book The Last Temptation of Christ. " Upon his return to Greece he began translating works of philosophy.

He became known globally after the 1964 release of the Michael Cacoyannis film Zorba the Greek based on the novel. Nikos Kazantzakis (Greek: Νίκος Καζαντζάκης; February 18 1883 – October 26 1957) was a Greek writer and philosopher celebrated for his novel Zorba the Greek considered his magnum opus.