
“Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind.”
On Milton (1825)
Source: Collected Fictions
“Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind.”
On Milton (1825)
of modernism; “The End of the Line”, p. 81
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)
“Uncle Sam turns tricks (& stiffs sex workers),” http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=650 RT, May 11, 2012.
2010s, 2012
“The public has an unusual relationship to the poet: It doesn't even know that he is there.”
"Poets, Critics, and Readers" (1959)
O poeta é um fingidor.
Finge tão completamente
Que chega a fingir que é dor
A dor que deveras sente.
"Autopsicografia" ["Autopsychography"], in Presença, No. 36 (November 1932)
Fernando Pessoa's most translated poem.
Richard Zenith's translation:
The poet is a faker
Who's so good at his act
He even fakes the pain
Of pain he feels in fact.
What I've Learned (July 2002)
“If A were not allowed his better position, B would be even worse off than he is.”
Source: A Theory of Justice (1971; 1975; 1999), Chapter II, Section 17, pg. 103