greek-films

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

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

"I fought breasts to breasts."

"[when dancing] Whoopa! Whoopa! Whoopa!"

"Why'? Will no man ever do something without a 'why'? Just like that, for the hell of it."

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

"Listen to that bitch—the sea—that maker of widows."

"Boss, why did God give us hands? To grab. Well, grab!"

"When my little boy, Dimitri, died, everybody was crying. Me? I got up, and I danced. They said, 'Zorba is mad.' But it was the dancing—only the dancing—that stopped the pain. You see, he was my first. He was only three. When I'm happy, it's the same thing."

"You bastard mountain! I'll eat your guts!"

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

"Zorba, you are in paradise."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"All right, we go outside where God can see us better."

"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."

"Do you know how old I am? Ah, never mind, that's a secret. But I... have got to go fast. You know, they... they say that age kills the fire inside of a man. That he hears death coming. He opens the door, says, "Come in. Give me rest." That is a pack of God damned lies. I've got enough fight in me to... to devour the world! So... I fight!"

"Those damn cats!"

"The lamb, it will burn!"

"No more fooling around, not in this place. We'll pull our pants up and make a pile of money."

"There will be no funeral. She was a Frank, she crossed herself with four fingers. The priest will not bury her like everybody else."

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

"(deleted scenes) – Peasant girl"

"– Mavrandoni"

"– Manolakas"

"– Mimithos"

"– Madame Hortense"

"– the Widow"

"– 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?"

"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."

"Life. Lust. Love. Zorba."

"Dagmara Dominczyk as Callie"

"I'm an unnatural mother."

"Long time ago, at some point, I considered, only half seriously, considered having implants. But, um, they come from nowhere, so what are they worth?"

"I hate talking to my kids on the phone."

"It's Auden. "Chill of the crooked wing falls down along my body". It's ridiculous. It's just something I taught them. "The Crisis". Hmm? An inside joke."

"As Simone Weil says, "Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity."

"Camus posits that the ontological emptiness of the universe chafes against the intrinsically human desire for metaphysical meaning."

"Bourdieu's mistake is that he often forgot the first part of his own name."

"I want to go to bed with you. But it looks like you're married, so... you'll have to start this."

"Thank God, because whenever one tries to suppress doubt, there is tyranny."

"Olivia Colman as Leda"

"Jessie Buckley as Young Leda"

"Dakota Johnson as Nina"

"Ed Harris as Lyle"