# Quote — Henry Miller, The Colossus of Maroussi

> To be free, as I then knew myself to be, is to realize that all conquest is vain, even the conquest of self, which is the last act of egotism. To be joyous is to carry the ego to its last summit and to deliver it triumphantly. To know peace is total: it is the moment after, when the surrenderer is complete, when there is no longer even the consciousness of surrender. Peace is at the centre and when it is attainded the voice issues forth in praise and benediction. Then the voice carries far and wide, to the outermost limits of the universe. Then it heals, because it brings light and the warmth of compassion.

- Author: [Henry Miller](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-miller.md)
- Book: [The Colossus of Maroussi](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-miller/the-colossus-of-maroussi.md)
- Page: 80
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Miller#The_Colossus_of_Maroussi_(1941)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [selfishness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness.md)
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-miller/the-colossus-of-maroussi/to-be-free

## More from this book

> If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms.

p. 235 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-miller/the-colossus-of-maroussi/if-men-cease.md)

Topics: [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md)

> He saw the humorous aspect of everything, which is the real test of the tragic sense.

p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-miller/the-colossus-of-maroussi/he-saw-the.md)

Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md)

> There ain't no such thing as civilization.

p. 144 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-miller/the-colossus-of-maroussi/there-aint-no-such.md)

Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md)