“It was just a moment, and I saw myself. Then I no longer could say what I was.”

— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet

Ibid., p. 66
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Foi só um momento, e vi-me. Depois já não sei sequer dizer o que fui.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

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Fernando Pessoa288

Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publi… 1888–1935

James Nicoll (1961) Canadian fiction reviewer

[dgpfn2$h61$1@reader1.panix.com, 2005]
2000s

“For a moment, staring down and realizing what I'd just done, I wanted to throw myself in after him, because surely there was no way I could go on living now.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

“I went north — I did not try to hide myself. When a god or a demon saw me, then I would die, but meanwhile I was no longer afraid. My hunger for knowledge burned in me — there was so much that I could not understand.”

Stephen Vincent Benét book By the Waters of Babylon

Source: By the Waters of Babylon (1937)

“There was a house made out of sticks, there was a city, made out of bricks, I was amazed at what I saw, all I could say was Subhanallah!”

Dawud Wharnsby (1972) Canadian musician

"Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah and Insha Allah"
A Picnic of Poems in Allah's Green Garden (2011)

“I do not presuppose myself, because I am every moment just positing or creating myself, and am I only by being not presupposed but posited, and … only in the moment when I posit myself; that is, I am creator and creature in one.”

Max Stirner book The Ego and Its Own

Ich setze Mich nicht voraus, weil Ich Mich jeden Augenblick überhaupt erst setze oder schaffe, und nur dadurch Ich bin, dass Ich nicht vorausgesetzt, sondern gesetzt bin, und wiederum nur in dem Moment gesetzt, wo ich mich setze, d.h. Ich bin Schöpfer un Geschöpf in Einem.
Cambridge 1995, p. 135
The Ego and Its Own (1845)

“I saw myself reflected in him as in a mirror and in his eyes I seemed to look upon myself.
And I heard a voice saying:
—"Look, this is the Great Magician!”

P. D. Ouspensky (1878–1947) Russian esotericist

Card I : The Magician http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/sot/sot02.htm The Symbolism of the Tarot (1913) Context: I Saw the Man. His figure reached from earth to heaven and was clad in a purple mantle. He stood deep in foliage and flowers and his head, on which was the head-band of an initiate, seemed to disappear mysteriously in infinity. Before him on a cube-shaped altar were four symbols of magic — the sceptre, the cup, the sword and the pentacle. His right hand pointed to heaven, his left to earth. Under his mantle he wore a white tunic girded with a serpent swallowing its tail. His face was luminous and serene, and, when his eyes met mine, I felt that he saw most intimate recesses of my soul. I saw myself reflected in him as in a mirror and in his eyes I seemed to look upon myself. And I heard a voice saying: —"Look, this is the Great Magician!

“I was myself the compass of that sea:
I was the world in which I walked, and what I saw
Or heard or felt came not but from myself;
And there I found myself more truly and more strange.”

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American poet

“My life? Oh, my life I abandon without a regret! I have seen the Past; and I foresee the Future. What friend of his country would wish to survive the moment when he could no longer serve it — when he could no longer defend innocence against oppression?”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Last Speech to the National Convention (26 July 1794)

“I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

“I was just telling myself to do nothing more and nothing less, and just telling myself to breathe because in that moment I literally felt like I was going to puke, I was so nervous. My normal is good enough, so I don't do anything more or anything less, I just have to do what I normally do.”

Sunisa Lee (2003) American artistic gymnast; first Hmong American Olympic gold medalist

"Suni Lee talks gold medal win, 'cherished' backyard balance beam she trained on as a kid" in Today (30 July 2021) https://www.today.com/news/suni-lee-talks-gold-medal-win-i-still-can-t-t226952

“It was just a moment, and I saw myself. Then I no longer could say what I was.”

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Fernando Pessoa288

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