One of the most charming and imaginative descriptions of human beings. Well worth keeping in mind in case you find yourself standing before a panel of Martians demanding that you explain homo sapiens to them.

Think about it: all the bread, wine, fish and radishes you ingest or imbibe, even the coffee, the toast and jam, the chocolate bars, takeaway curries, supermarket sushi, strawberries and cream, cold beers or salade niçoise, ALL transmogrified into your sighs, laughter and dreams.

What a miraculous machine we are, what a fabulous factory!

“What a strange machine man is!” he said, with astonishment.  “You fill him with bread, wine, fish, radishes, and out of him comes sighs, laughter and dreams.  Like a factory.”

Source: Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis, trans. Carl Wildman (Faber & Faber, 2008), p. 274