Quotes from Fernando Pessoa

Right now I have so many fundamental thoughts, so many truly metaphysical things to say that I suddenly feel tired, and I've decided to write no more, think no more. I'll let the fever of saying put me to sleep instead, and with closed eyes I'll stroke, as if petting a cat, all that I might have said.

I have never been anything more than a mere vestige, a simulacrum of myself.

Durmo e desdurmo.

Life is whatever we conceive it to be. For the farmer who considers his field to be everything, the field is an empire. For a Caesar whose empire is still not enough, the empire is a field. The poor man possesses an empire, the great man a field. All that we truly possess are our own sensations; it is in them, rather than in what they sense, that we must base our life's reality.

I'm liberated and lost. I feel. I shiver with fever. I'm I.

The truth is, though, that the things we love most, or think we love, only have their full value when we merely dream them.

La vida práctica siempre me ha parecido el menos cómodo de los suicidios.

My soul is a hidden orchestra; I do not know what instruments, what violins and harps, drums and tambours, sound and clash inside me. I know myself only as a symphony.

Onder het wandelen bedenk ik vaak volmaakte zinnen, die ik me later thuis niet meer kan herinneren. Ik weet niet of de ontzaglijke poëtische kracht van die zinnen berust op hun inhoud of op het feit dat ze nooit hebben bestaan.

Like all men endowed with great mental mobility, I have an irrevocable, organic love of settledness. I abhor new ways of life and unfamiliar places. 122

I weep over a dead life that I carry inside me and never lived.

Deze bladzijden, waarop ik dingen noteer die slechts helder voor me zijn terwijl ik ze schrijf, heb ik juist herlezen en nu vraag ik mij af: wat is dit en waar dient dit voor? Wie ben ik wanneer ik voel? Wat sterft in mij wanneer ik ben? Zoals iemand die van grote hoogte het leven in een dal tracht te zien, zo beschouw ik mijzelf vanaf een bergtop en ben daarbij een onduidelijk rommelig landschap.

Tenemos todos dos vidas: la verdadera, que es la que soñamos en la infancia, y que continuamos soñando, adultos en un sustrato de niebla; la falsa, que es la que vivimos en convivencia con los demás, que es la práctica, la útil, aquella en que terminan por meternos en un cajón.

kendilerini vaktiyle deha sanm??, oysa düÅŸ gücünden yoksun birer dilenci olmaktan öteye gidememiÅŸ döküntülerin aras?na kar??acak, hayatta ne baÅŸar?ya ulaÅŸabilmiÅŸ, ne de her ÅŸeyi elinin tersiyle itmeyi becerip öbür türlü baÅŸar? kazanabilmiÅŸ o isimsiz kalabal?kta eriyeceÄŸim.

Passeávamos às vezes, braço dado, sob os cedros e as olaias e nenhum de nós pensava em viver

La maggior parte delle persone si ammala per non saper esprimere quello che vede e quello che pensa.

Solo me han amado de verdad en una ocasión. Simpatías, las he tenido siempre, y de todos. Ni al más ocasional le ha sido fácil ser grosero, o ser brusco, o incluso ser frío conmigo. He tenido algunas simpatías que, con mi ayuda, podría -quizá al menos- haber convertido en amor o afecto. Nunca he tenido la paciencia o la disposición de espíritu para ni siquiera desear emplear ese esfuerzo.

To attain the satisfactions of the mystic state without having to endure its rigours; to be the ecstatic follower of no god, the mystic or epopt* with no initiation; to pass the days meditating on a paradise you don't believe in – all of this tastes good to the soul that knows what it means to know nothing.

Our Lady of the Hours that Pass, Madonna of stagnant waters and dead algae, Tutelary Goddess of vast deserts and dark landscapes of barren rocks, free me from my youth.

Nella vita odierna il mondo appartiene agli stolti, agli indifferenti e agli attivisti. Oggi il diritto di vivere e di trionfare si ottiene praticamente con gli stessi requisiti con cui si ottiene il ricovero in un manicomio: l'incapacità di pensare, l'amoralità e l'eccessiva agitazione.

Credo, ideal, mulher ou profissão - tudo isso é a cela e as algemas.

Pon todo lo que eres en lo mínimo que hagas

È una regola della vita che si possa (anzi, si debba) imparare da tutti. Ci sono cose della serietà della vita che possiamo imparare da ciarlatani e da banditi, ci sono filosofie che gli stolti possono insegnarci, ci sono lezioni di fermezza e di legge che provengono dal caso e da coloro che fanno parte del caso. Tutto è in ogni cosa.

Creio na existência dos mundos superiores ao nosso e de habitantes desses mundos, em experiências de diversos graus de espiritualidade, subtilizando-se até chegar a um Ente supremo, que presumivelmente criou este mundo.