Civilization consists in giving something an unfitting name… - Fernando Pessoa

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Civilization consists in giving something an unfitting name, then dream about the result. And indeed the false name and the real dream create a new reality. The object really becomes another, because we turned it into another one. We manufacture realities.

Fernando Pessoa

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About Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa (13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet and writer, most of whose work was published posthumously. He wrote frequently under heteronyms, alter egos with developed personalities, biographies, jobs, habits, attitudes, addresses, etc., who sometimes quoted and interacted with each other and other people.

Also Known As

Pen Names: Alberto Caeiro • Álvaro de Campos • Ricardo Reis • Bernardo Soares

Native Name: Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa

Alternative Names: Fernando Antonio Nogueira Pessoa

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Originators like Fernando Pessoa:

Jean-Paul Sartre Emil Cioran Franz Kafka John Fowles Henry Miller

Additional quotes by Fernando Pessoa

Agir, eis a inteligência verdadeira. Serei o que quiser. Mas tenho que querer o que for.

Our problem isn't that we're individualists. It's that our individualism is static rather than dynamic. We value what we think rather than what we do. We forget that we haven't done, or been, what we thought; that the first function of life is action, just as the first property of things is motion.

Let others take up my madness
And all that went with it.
Without madness what is man
But a healthy beast, A postponed corpse that breeds?

Civilization consists in giving something an unfitting name, then dream about the result. And indeed the false name and the real dream create a new r… - Fernando Pessoa

About Fernando Pessoa

Also Known As

Additional quotes by Fernando Pessoa