Nostalgia! I feel it even for someone who meant nothing to me, out of anxiety for the flight of time and a sickness bred of the mystery of life. If one of the faces I pass daily on the streets disappears, I feel sad; yet they meant nothing to me, other than being a symbol of all life.
Fernando PessoaBut my sadness is comforting Because itโs right and natural And because itโs what the soul should feel When it already thinks it exists And the hand pick flowers And the soul takes no notice.
Fernando PessoaI've never done anything but dream. This, and this alone, has been the meaning of my life. My only real concern has been my inner life.
Fernando PessoaGiving importance to what we think because we thought it, taking our own selves not only (to quote the Greek philosopher) as the measure of all things but as their norm or standard, we create in ourselves, if not an interpretation, at least a criticism of the universe, which we don't even know and therefore cannot criticize. The giddiest, most weak-minded of us then promote that criticism to an interpretation that's superimposed, like a hallucination; induced rather than deduced. It's a hallucination in the strict sense, being an illusion based on something only dimly seen.
Fernando Pessoa