"The extraordinary is as rare in motion pictures as it is in life. [...] Yet there is no better word for Anthony Quinn in the role he was born to play: Zorba the Greek. [...] Everything about the film and the man is different. [...] When Zorba talks, you listen. [...] When Zorba drinks, you taste it. When Zorba loves, you feel it. Because this is a man who devours life as if it were a feast, a man who never puts off till tomorrow what he can enjoy today. Here is his world: sea-bathed, sun-washed Greece. Its sights, its sounds, its music, its dancing. Above all, here are its people: as proud as the silent village beauty whose desires only Zorba understood; [...] the vulnerable English youth whom Zorba sent stumbling into love; the Rabelaisian French madame who was loved by no less than four admirals; people as proud, as cruel, as revengeful, as murderous, as their barren, mountainous homeland. [...] And overshadowing them all, Zorba fighting for life, laughing at death, attaining his place among the immortal characters of our time."

"– Alexis Zorba"

"If there is God—and I ask you, why not?—I imagine him to look just like me, Zorba. Only bigger, stronger and crazier. And more permanent. His house is the sky. The walls are clouds and the floor is covered with sheepskins. And there he sits, very comfortable, like a pasha. In his right hand he holds something which is not a sword and not a pair of scales either. Only killers and grocers have any use for such things. No sir. He holds a big sponge, dripping with water like a raincloud. On his right side, there is Paradise. On his left, Hell. ... Suddenly, a soul arrives. Naked poor thing and shivering with cold. God looks at the soul and smiles under his big moustaches. But he plays tough. "Come here," he says, putting on his special deep voice. "Come here, you no good tramp, you miserable worm. Confess!" "Have a heart, dear God," the soul cries, "Be merciful." And off she goes. She tells him one thing, then another, then another. And still there is no end to the bloody sins. Talk, talk, talk, talk. God gets bored. He yawns. "Shut up!" he shouts. "You give me a headache." And flop, flop with a sponge... and he wipes out all the sins. "Enough! Clear out, to Paradise. Quick! Hey, Peter, here's another one for you! ... [smiles and strokes beard] Poor little soul." ... That's God for you: a king, a great big king. And you know what it means to be a king?"

"Look, boss: a big, beautiful, wild widow."

"They hate her because they cannot have her. Only one man here can. You."

"Remember this: if a woman sleeps alone, it puts a shame on all men. God has a very big heart, but there is one sin He will not forgive [slaps table]: if a woman calls a man to her bed and he will not go. I know, because a very wise old Turk told me."

"You think too much. That is your trouble. Clever people and grocers, they weigh everything."

"Am I not a man? And is a man not stupid? I'm a man, so I married. Wife, children, house, everything, the full catastrophe."

"On a deaf man's door, you can knock forever!"

"Life. Lust. Love. Zorba."

"Zorba, you are in paradise."

"And, as for women, you make fun of me that I love them. How can I not love them? They are such poor, weak creatures. They think so little. A man's hand on their breast, and they give you all they got."

"– the Widow"

"What kind of man are you, don't you even like dolphins?"

"– Mimithos"

"Silly old bitch. She's not alone, she's with Suleiman Pasha having a hell of a time."

"Anthony Quinn plays Zorba. NO Anthony Quinn is Zorba!"

"Hey boss, did you ever see a more splendiferous crash?"

"– Madame Hortense"

"You are cruel! Why you abandon me? The whole village is laughing at me. Where is my white satin? Where is my wedding dress?"

"– Mavrandoni"