Quotes from Fernando Pessoa

Tenho um segredo comigo Que me faz sempre cismar, É se quero estar contigo Ou quero contigo estar.

No fundo, acredite, o que somos de mais doloroso é o que não somos realmente, e as nossas maiores tragédias passam-se na ideia que fazemos de nós.

I had great ambitions and extravagant dreams, but so did the errand boy and the seamstress, for everyone has dreams; the only difference is whether or not we have the strength to fulfil them or a destiny that will fulfil them through us.

Only the idea can fathom reality without getting ruined.

Sometimes he was adorned or made to don Half-vestures then in statued nudity Did imitate some god that seems to be By marble's accurate virtue men's again.

It is as if I am an old man who sees all the friends of his childhood dying around him and who thinks his own death at hand.

N-am nici ambi?ii ?i nici dorin?e. A fi poet nu e pentru mine o ambi?ie. e doar felul meu de a fi singur.

Tobacco Shop') and compares his thinking to 'an overturned bucket' (in a poem dated 16 August 1934). If Soares thinks that 'Nothing is more oppressive than the affection of others' (Text 348), a Ricardo Reis ode (dated 1 November 1930) maintains that 'The same love by which we're loved/Oppresses us with its wanting.

Now he is something anyone can be.

Tens vontade de comprar O que vês só porque o viste. Só a tenho de chorar Porque só compro o ser triste.

Creio no mundo como num malmequer, Porque o vejo. Mas não penso nele Porque pensar é não compreender... O Mundo não se fez para pensarmos nele (Pensar é estar doente dos olhos) Mas para olharmos para ele e estarmos de acordo... Eu não tenho filosofia: tenho sentidos... Se falo na Natureza não é porque saiba o que ela é, Mas porque a amo, e amo-a por isso, Porque quem ama nunca sabe o que ama Nem sabe por que ama, nem o que é amar...

Sou daquelas almas que as mulheres dizem que amam, e nunca reconhecem quando encontram

To understand, I destroyed myself.

Do I hear myself being applauded by large multitudes? The applause reaches the fourth floor where I live and collides with the cheap furniture of my cheap room, with everything that surrounds me and makes me wretched, from the kitchen...to my dreams.

Cine iubeÅŸte nu ÅŸtie nicicând ce iubeÅŸte Åži nici nu ÅŸtie de ce iubeÅŸte,nici a iubi ce va s? însemne... A iubi este începutul inocenÅ£ei Iar deplina inocen?? înseamn? a nu gândi...

Let us absurdify life from east to west

We hear death in words they speak to express sensual bliss. We read sensuality and life in words they drop from their lips without the slightest intention of being profound.

It is between sensation and my awareness of it that all the great tragedies of my life occur. In that shadowy, indeterminate region of forests and burbling water, indifferent even to the noise of our wars, flows the self I struggle in vain to find…

Freedom is the possibility of isolation. You are free if you can withdraw from people, not having to seek them out for the sake of money, company, love, glory or curiosity, none of which can thrive in silence and solitude. If you can't live alone, you were born a slave.

To belong to something – that's banal. Creeds, ideals, a woman, or profession – nothing but prisons and shackles. To be is to be free. Even ambition is a burden if it is based only on futile pride and passion. We wouldn't be so proud of it if we realized it's just a string by which we're pulled.

Wise is the man who has the potential for height in his muscles but who renounces climbing in his consciousness. By virtue of his gaze, he has all hills, and by virtue of his position, all valleys. The sun that gilds the summits will gild them more for him than for someone at the top who must endure the bright light; and the palace perched high in the woods will be more beautiful for those who see it from the valley than for those who, imprisoned in its rooms, forget it.

El tiempo pasa, nada nos dice. Envejecemos. Sepamos, con malicia casi, sentirnos ir. De nada vale hacer un gesto. No se resiste al dios atroz dios que sus hijos siempre devora.

To express something is to conserve its virtue and take away its terror.

I've come to the realization that I'm always thinking and listening to two things at once.