Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa, was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. He also wrote in and translated from English and French...
NationalityPortuguese
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth13 June 1888
CityLisbon, Portugal
CountryPortugal
Lord, may the pain be ours, And the weakness that it brings, But at least give us the strength, Of not showing it to anyone!
To choose ways of not acting was ever the concern and scruple of my life.
To be great, be whole; Exclude nothing. Be whole in everything.
I feel as if I'm always on the verge of waking up.
I don't know what I feel or what I want to feel. I don't know what to think or what I am.
Stones in the road? I save every single one, and one day I'll build a castle.
In order to understand, I destroyed myself.
My past is everything I failed to be.
Ah, what a morning this is, awakening me to life's stupidity. [98 - Zenith trans.]
My happiest hours are those in which I think nothing, want nothing, when I do not even dream, but lose myself in some spurious vegetable torpor, moss growing on the surface of life. Without a trace of bitterness I savour my absurd awareness of being nothing, a mere foretaste of death and extinction.
No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it.
Look, there's no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.
Wise is he who enjoys the show offered by the world.
Whether or not they exist we are slaves to our gods.