حين أنظر إليّ، لا أفهمني. / لكثرة ما تتملكني عادة الإحساس / أتوه أحيانا عندما أفارق / الأحاسيس التي أشعر بها - Fernando Pessoa

That is how I experience life, as apocalypse and cataclysm. Each day brings an increasing inability in myself to make the smallest gesture, even to imagine myself confronting clear, real situations. The presence of others — always such an unexpected event for the soul — grows daily more painful and distressing. Talking to others makes me shudder. If they show any interest in me, I flee. If they look at me, I tremble. I am constantly on the defensive. Life and other people bruise me. I can't look reality in the eye.

Pertenço a um gênero de portugueses
Que depois de estar a Índia descoberta
Ficaram sem trabalho. A morte é certa.
Tenho pensado nisto muitas vezes.

Heine said that every great tragedy was followed by a general blowing of noses. As a Jew, he saw all too clearly the universal nature of humanity.