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I have no ambitions nor desires.
To be a poet is not my ambition,
It's simply my way of being alone.

— Fernando Pessoa

Não tenho ambições nem desejos
Ser poeta não é uma ambição minha
É a minha maneira de estar sozinho.

Original text (Portuguese)

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Ambition

More quotes by Fernando Pessoa

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

A Celebridade (1915)

Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.

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!

All Fernando Pessoa quotes →

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To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

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The poor, by thinking unceasingly of money, reach the point of losing the spiritual advantages of non-possession, thereby sinking as low as the rich.

Emil Cioran The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.

Jean de La Bruyère Les Caractères (1688)

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.