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Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.

— Fernando Pessoa

A literatura é a maneira mais agradável de ignorar a vida.

Original text (Portuguese)

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More quotes by Fernando Pessoa

Every man who deserves to be famous knows it is not worth the trouble.

A Celebridade (1915)

Contradiction is the essence of the universe.

Was it worthwhile?
Everything is worthwhile
if the soul is not small.

Ah, to be you while being I!
To have your glad unconsciousness
And be conscious of it!

The poet is a pretender.
He pretends so completely,
that he even pretends that it is pain
the pain he really feels.

All Fernando Pessoa quotes →

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Fernando Pessoa (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.