Fernando Pessoa

"Walking on these streets, until the night falls, my life feels to me like the life they have. By day they’re full of meaningless activity; by night, they’re full of meaningless lack of it. By day I am nothing, and by night I am I. There is no difference between me and these streets, save they being streets and I a soul, which perhaps is irrelevant when we consider the essence of things"

3 likes

Source: The Book of Disquiet. Book by Fernando Pessoa, A Factless Autobiography, number 3, translation by Richard Zenith, 1982.

About the author

Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa

Poet, Writer

Fernando Pessoa was a Portuguese poet and writer known for his profound exploration of identity and existence, particularly through his work 'The Book of Disquiet.'

All quotes by Fernando Pessoa →

Same author

More quotes by Fernando Pessoa

See all →
Fernando Pessoa Poet, Writer

"The value of things is not the time they last, but the intensity with which they occur. That is why there are unforgettable moments and unique people!"

Read quote
Fernando Pessoa Poet, Writer

"The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd - The longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world’s existence. All these half-tones of the soul’s consciousness create in us a painful landscape, an eternal sunset of what we are."

Read quote
Fernando Pessoa Poet, Writer

"My soul is a hidden orchestra; I know not what instruments, what fiddlestrings and harps, drums and tamboura I sound and clash inside myself. All I hear is the symphony."

Read quote