When all by myself, I can think of all kinds of clever remarks, quick comebacks to what no one said, and flashes of witty sociability with nobody. But all of this vanishes when I face someone in the flesh: I lose my intelligence, I can no longer speak, and after half an hour I just feel tired. Talking to people makes me feel like sleeping. Only my ghostly and imaginary friends, only the conversations I have in my dreams, are genuinely real and substantial.
Fernando PessoaTo think is to destroy. The very process of thought indicates it for the same thought, as thinking is decomposing.
Fernando PessoaWe never love anyone. What we love is the idea we have of someone. It's our own conceptโour own selvesโthat we love.
Fernando PessoaWeโve been devastated by the severest and deadliest drought in history โ that of our profound awareness of the futility of all effort and the vanity of all plans.
Fernando Pessoa