Quotes Fernando Pessoa
„We are two abysses — a well staring at the sky.“
— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid., p. 48
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Somos dois abismos — um poço fitando o céu.
Não sou nada.
Nunca serei nada.
Não posso querer ser nada.
À parte isso, tenho em mim todos os sonhos do mundo.
Álvaro de Campos (heteronym), Tabacaria ["The Tobacconist's" or "The Tobacco Shop"] (15 January 1928)
Variant translations:
I am nothing.
Never shall be anything.
Cannot will to be anything.
This apart, I have in me all the dreams of the world.
trans. Jonathan Griffin, in Selected Poems (Penguin Books, 1974), p. 111
I am not nothing.
I will never be nothing.
I cannot ever want to be nothing.
Apart from that, I have in me all the dreams of the world.
In Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations (2005), p. 649
I am nothing.
I shall never be anything.
I cannot even wish to be anything.
Apart from this, I have within me all the dreams of the world.
Variant: I am nothing.
I will never be anything.
I cannot wish to be anything.
Bar that, I have in me all the dreams of the world.
Para ser grande, sê inteiro: nada
Teu exagera ou exclui.
Sê todo em cada coisa. Põe quanto és
No mínimo que fazes.
Assim em cada lago a lua toda
Brilha, porque alta vive.
Ricardo Reis (heteronym), Ode (14 February 1933), in A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe, trans. Richard Zenith (Penguin, 2006)
Source: Poems of Fernando Pessoa
„I take with me the conscience of defeat as a victory banner.“
— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid., p. 79
Original: Levo comigo a consciência da derrota como um pendão de vitória.
Source: The Book of Disquiet
— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet
Source: The Book of Disquiet
Se, depois de eu morrer, quiserem escrever a minha biografia,
Não há nada mais simples.
Tem só duas datas—a da minha nascença e a da minha morte.
Entre uma e outra coisa todos os dias são meus.
Alberto Caeiro (heteronym), "Se, depois de eu morrer" (8 November 1915), trans. Jonathan Griffin.
Source: Poems of Fernando Pessoa
„There are ships sailing to many ports, but not a single one goes where life is not painful.“
— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet
Source: The Book of Disquiet
— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet
Source: The Book of Disquiet
„I know not what tomorrow will bring“
Last sentence (29 November 1935), quoted in A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe by Richard Zenith (Penguin Classics, 2006)
„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
„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.
„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
