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I will be what I want. But I will have to want what I'll be. Success is in having success, not conditions for success.

— Fernando Pessoa

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Notes from Wikiquote

Ibid., p. 122

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Success

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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Greatness by nature includes a power, but not a will to power.

Martin Buber Between Man and Man (1965)

The weak shows his strength and hides his weaknesses; the magnificent exhibits his weaknesses like ornaments.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

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.