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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023
Fernando Pessoa photo

“But I am not perfect in my way of putting things
Because I lack the divine simplicity
Of being only what I appear to be.”

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher

Source: Poems of Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa photo
Fernando Pessoa photo
Fernando Pessoa photo
Fernando Pessoa photo
Fernando Pessoa photo

“I feel as if I'm always on the verge of waking up.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Source: The Book of Disquiet

Fernando Pessoa photo

“Everything is worthwhile
if the soul is not small.”

Fernando Pessoa book Mensagem

Message
Original: Valeu a pena?
Tudo vale a pena
Se a alma não é pequena.
Poem "Mar Português", Verses 6-.
Context: Was it worthwhile?
Everything is worthwhile
if the soul is not small.

Fernando Pessoa photo

“What we see is not what we see but what we are.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

<p>Original: Viajar? Para viajar basta existir. [...] Para quê viajar? Em Madrid, em Berlim, na Pérsia, na China, nos Pólos ambos, onde estaria eu senão em mim mesmo, e no tipo e género das minhas sensações?</p><p>A vida é o que fazemos dela. As viagens são os viajantes. O que vemos não é o que vemos, senão o que somos.</p>
Ibid., p. 360
The Book of Disquiet
Context: p>To travel? In order to travel it's enough to be. [... ] Why travel? In Madrid, in Berlin, in Persia, in China, at the Poles both, where would I be but in myself, and in the sort and kind of my sensations?Life is what we make of it. Travels are travellers. What we see is not what we see but what we are.</p

Fernando Pessoa photo

“Look, there's no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.”

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher

Fernando Pessoa photo

“Eat your chocolates, little girl,
Eat your chocolates!
Believe me, there's no metaphysics on earth like chocolates,
And all religions put together teach no more than the candy shop.
Eat, dirty little girl, eat!
If only I could eat chocolates with the same truth as you!
But I think and, removing the silver paper that's tinfoil,
I throw it all on the ground, as I've thrown out life.”

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher

Come chocolates, pequena;
Come chocolates!
Olha que não há mais metafísica no mundo senão chocolates.
Olha que as religiões todas não ensinam mais que a confeitaria.
Come, pequena suja, come!
Pudesse eu comer chocolates com a mesma verdade com que comes!
Mas eu penso e, ao tirar o papel de prata, que é de folhas de estanho,
Deito tudo para o chão, como tenho deitado a vida.
Tabacaria (1928), trans. Richard Zenith

Fernando Pessoa photo

“All pleasure is a vice, for seeking pleasure is what everybody does in life, and the only dark vice is doing what everybody does.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Ibid., p. 265
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Todo o prazer é um vício, porque buscar o prazer é o que todos fazem na vida, e o único vício negro é fazer o que toda a gente faz.

Fernando Pessoa photo

“I think of life as an inn where I have to stay until the abyss coach arrives. I don't know where it will take me, for I know nothing.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

A Factless Autobiography, Richard Zenith Edition, Lisbon, 2006, p. 40
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Considero a vida uma estalagem onde tenho que me demorar até que chegue a diligência do abismo. Não sei onde ela me levará, porque não sei nada.

Fernando Pessoa photo

“All problems are unsolvable. The essence of the existence of a problem is that there is no solution. Looking for a fact means there is no fact. To think is not to know how to be.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Ibid., p. 123
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Todos os problemas são insolúveis. A essência de haver um problema é não haver solução. Procurar um facto significa não haver um facto. Pensar é não saber existir.

Fernando Pessoa photo

“I know not what tomorrow will bring”

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher

Last sentence (29 November 1935), quoted in A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe by Richard Zenith (Penguin Classics, 2006)

Fernando Pessoa photo
Fernando Pessoa photo

“This world is for those who are born to conquer it, Not for those who dream that are able to conquer it, even if they're right.”

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher

Source: Poems of Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa photo
Fernando Pessoa photo