Portugal Quotes

“Lisbon, to me,
is the Lisbon of Pessoa.
Just like London is Woolf’s,
or rather, Mrs. Dalloway’s.
Barcelona is Gaudí's
and Rome is da Vinci’s.
You see them in every crevice
and hear their echoes
in every cathedral.
I’d like to be the child,
or rather, the mother of a city
but I neither have a home
nor a resting place.
My race is humankind.
My religion is kindness.
My work is love
and, well, my city
is the walls of your heart.”
― Kamand Kojouri

“«Il viaggio non finisce mai. Solo i viaggiatori finiscono. E anche loro possono prolungarsi in memoria, in ricordo, in narrazione. Quando il viaggiatore si è seduto sulla sabbia della spiaggia e ha detto “Non c’è altro da vedere”, sapeva che non era vero. La fine di un viaggio è solo l’inizio di un altro. Bisogna vedere quel che non si è visto, vedere di nuovo quel che si è già visto, vedere in primavera quel che si era visto in estate, veder di giorno quel che si era visto di notte, con il sole dove prima pioveva, vedere le messi verdi, il frutto maturo, la pietra che ha cambiato posto, l’ombra che non c’era. Bisogna ritornare sui posti già dati, per ripeterli, e per tracciarvi a fianco nuovi cammini. Bisogna ricominciare il viaggio. Sempre ».

José Saramago, “Viaggio in Portogallo”
― José Saramago, Viaje a Portugal

“Louca? Há um cume de duas vertentes - a do homem comum e a do louco. É donde se vê bem a vida...”
― Vergílio Ferreira

“Sin lástima y sin ira el tiempo mella
Las heroicas espadas. Pobre y triste
A tu patria nostálgica volviste,
Oh capitán, para morir en ella

Y con ella. En el mágico desierto
La flor de Portugal se había perdido
Y el áspero español, antes vencido,
Amenazaba su costado abierto.

Quiero saber si aquende la ribera
Última comprendiste humildemente
Que todo lo perdido, el Occidente

Y el Oriente, el acero y la bandera,
Perduraría (ajeno a toda humana
Mutación) en tu Eneida lusitana.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

“conheci o imutável bolor do rectangular país
a histérica península
o buraco onde coalhou o pressagioso nevoeiro de Quibir
que país é este? onde a espera definha noutra espera

in A SEGUIR O DESERTO”
― Al Berto, O Medo

“…we cannot predict our lives. Only God Almighty knows and sees it all. We can only do our best and follow the path that He places under our feet. Things don’t always turn out the way we want, even if we do everything right. Even if we live by the word of God, He will not always answer our prayers the way we expect. And it is not our place to question God’s reasoning behind it, but only to have faith in His wisdom.”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“God wants you to be truthful and humble to yourself and others. He made you good and industrious, but you can’t benefit from it if you always stumble on pride.”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“…leaving a book behind keeps your thoughts alive in this world forever. So, in some ways, your spirit never dies. It is the best way to achieve immortality.”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“Sometimes, he thought of himself as an elephant walking through the china store, breaking everything in his path and still expecting people not to be angry with the damage he made, but rather to admire his strength and his endurance.”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“…everybody should write one book. There is a book in each of us. It is just a matter of bringing it out. Some people are capable and willing to do that, some are not.” (Ch.20)”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“Nada o muy poco sé de mis mayores
portugueses, los Borges: vaga gente
que prosigue en mi carne, oscuramente,
sus hábitos, rigores y temores.

Tenues como si nunca hubieran sido
y ajenos a los trámites del arte,
indescifrablemente forman parte
del tiempo, de la tierra y del olvido.

Mejor así. Cumplida la faena,
son Portugal, son la famosa gente
que forzó las murallas del Oriente

y se dio al mar y al otro mar de arena.
Son el rey que en el místico desierto
se perdió y el que jura que no ha muerto.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

“Unfortunately, on Christmas morning 1492 the Santa María ran aground on the northern coast of what is now Haiti. Not having any way to refloat her, the crew off-loaded the provisions and equipment from the ship before she broke up. For protection they then built a flimsy fortification on the beach, calling it “La Navidad.” With the consent of the local Indian Chief, Columbus left behind 39 men with orders to establish a settlement, and appointed Diego de Arana, a cousin of his mistress Beatriz, as the Governor.
On January 16, 1493, Columbus left Navidad and sailed for Portugal and Spain on the Niña. Everything went well until the two remaining ships, the Niña and the Pinta, became separated from each other. Columbus was convinced that the captain of the faster Pinta would get back to Spain first, thereby garnering all the glory by telling lies about him and his discoveries. On March 4th, a violent storm off the Azores forced him to take refuge in Lisbon. Both ships, amazingly enough, arrived there safely. A week later, Columbus continued on to Palos, Spain, on the Gulf of Cádiz, from whence he had started. Finally, on March 15th, he arrived in Barcelona. It seems that all’s well that ends well, because he was hailed a hero and news of his discovery of new lands spread throughout Europe like wildfire.”
― Captain Hank Bracker, "Salty & Saucy Maine"

“When Vasco da Gama breached the Indian Ocean, the playing field had just been vacated by the one force capable of repelling him.”
― William J. Bernstein, A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World

“Comme d'usage, le Dictateur se trompe.”
― Fernando Pessoa, Sobre o Fascismo a Ditadura Militar e Salazar

“There are two kinds of persons which cannot be trusted in this world : the ones who do not greet you with a firm handshake and the ones who do not eat prawn heads.”
― Nelson Carvalheiro, The Portuguese Travel Cookbook

“A vida é uma luta. Nada nos é dado em uma placa dourada. Devemos lutar para conseguir o que queremos. Os vencedores são lutadores, e eles nunca desistem. Eles são nossos heróis. Como os antigos heróis, eles confrontam os dragões da vida e ganham vitórias. Mesmo se nossos heróis perdem, ainda amamos eles, porque eles ousaram lutar. Nós elogiamos eles porque se atreveram a morrer vivo, em vez de viver morto. Joseph Campbell coloca este lindamente "Um herói é alguém que deu sua vida para algo maior que si mesmo." Nós amamos as pessoas que cometem todo o coração seus objetivos. Queremos ver como eles terminam a sua viagem. Não importa como eles terminam, todos nós amamos o seu pleno compromisso com a causa. Eles nos inspiram a viver uma vida significativa.”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom

“Strangely enough, he didn’t feel any guilt for separating himself from his past. Five years ago, he clearly heard in his dream a message brought to him by Archangel Michael from the God Almighty, telling him he should get up and leave everything behind; that his place was not there; that it was time to go in search for his true self and for his true destiny.
Now, five years after, he was sitting in the Bowery chapel, a broken and homeless man, still trying to find that which he was looking for. But he didn’t regret anything he had done in those five years. In his mind, it wasn’t his doing. He sincerely believed that he surrendered his own will to the will of God and that everything that happened to him, good or bad, had to happen for some reason. It was God’s doing. It was his destiny. He just had to figure out why.”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“How far we can go with our liberty of conscience, without offending God, and disturbing the natural order of things…”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“I was going after a woman believing that the key is in being with her. But the key is in writing about her. The key is in words and words are in me. Longing for her is just an impulse for words to come out. And the whole purpose is for words to come out. Words are important. Words about love. About life.”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“I don’t know why I am doing this. Everybody is saying bad things about you. Wherever you go, whatever you do, there is a noise after you… In spite of everything, I respect your courage to go after your ideals, no matter what. Men like you make this world move. I know that the road you go is covered with thorns. But I also know that it must be a road to the stars.”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“Why do you want so much this new beginning? Do you think the new beginning will postpone the end? Are you afraid of the end? Are you afraid of death Michael?” (Ch.35)”
― Stevan V. Nikolic, Truth According to Michael

“Bowen looked nervously about for peasants. It would be unendurable if they all turned out to be full of instinctive wisdom and natural good manners and unself-conscious grace and a deep, articulate understanding of death.”
― Kingsley Amis, I Like It Here

“De kam kliefde door de baren als vaders vloot op zee.”
― Leen Lefebre, Soraia, kind van de zee (ZOMER)

“Há séculos que os portugueses se empenham em preparar e construir um Passado digno para os bisavós. É por isso que os profetas dos portugueses são os historiadores, e as utopias nacionais nada têm a ver com amanhãs - foram ontem. A lógica ancestral é a do «deixa passar». Logo que uma coisa passa para o passado, passa a ser a melhor de todas.”
― Miguel Esteves Cardoso, A Causa das Coisas

“La península ibérica me parece un minicontinente prodigioso y sueño con el día en que, previo acuerdo con los portugueses, se metamorfosee en República Federal Ibérica.”
― Ian Gibson, Aventuras ibéricas

“Nunca voltes atrás. É o que nos estão sempre a dizer. As coisas terão mudado. Não serão como te recordas. Deixa o passado no passado. É claro que esta última é mais fácil de dizer que de fazer. O passado tem o hábito de se repetir em nós.”
― C.J. Tudor, La Disparition d'Annie Thorne

“(...) homens que por indústria e engenho voam por cima das águas todas, por adquirirem o que Deus lhes nao deu, ou a pobreza neles é tanta que todo lhes faz esquecer a sua pátria, ou a vaidade, e a cegueira que lhes causa a sua cobiça é tamanha que por ela renegam a Deus, e a seus pais.”
― Fernão Mendes Pinto, Peregrinação

“Suddenly and without warning, one of the men stepped around and, with the beast's nether regions regrettably all too apparent, plunged his bare hand up to the elbow in the pig's rectum, then removed it, holding a fistful of steaming pig shit - which he flung, unceremoniously, to the ground with a loud splat before repeating the process.”
― Anthony Bourdain, A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines

“Com o seu respeito pela vida humana e pelos direitos e a dignidade do Homem, Aristides de Sousa Mendes mostrou ser ao mesmo tempo um herói para a Europa e para a humanidade.”
― Rui Afonso, Aristides de Sousa Mendes - Um Homem Bom

“Quem faz televisão em Portugal sabe que qualquer programa legendado em horários nobres tem pior audiência do que programas falados em português (com exceção, nos últimos anos, dos filmes em alturas de Natal e Ano Novo), também porque muita gente nem sequer consegue ler as legendas.”
― Pedro Boucherie Mendes, Ainda Bem Que Ficou Desse Lado