“The highly sensitive [introverted] tend to be philosophical or spiritual in their orientation, rather than materialistic or hedonistic. They dislike small talk. They often describe themselves as creative or intuitive. They dream vividly, and can often recall their dreams the next day. They love music, nature, art, physical beauty. They feel exceptionally strong emotions--sometimes acute bouts of joy, but also sorrow, melancholy, and fear. Highly sensitive people also process information about their environments--both physical and emotional--unusually deeply. They tend to notice subtleties that others miss--another person's shift in mood, say, or a lightbulb burning a touch too brightly.”
― Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
― Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
“I'll tell you something banal.We're emotional illiterates.And not only you and I-practically everybody,that's the depressing thing.We're taught everything about the body and about agriculture in Madagascar and about the square root of pi, or whatever the hell it's called,but not a word about the soul.We're abysmally ignorant,about both ourselves and others.There's a lot of loose talk nowadays to the effect that children should be brought up to know all about brotherhood and understanding and coexistence and equality and everything else that's all the rage just now.But it doesn't dawn on anyone that we must first learn something about ourselves and our own feelings.Our own fear and loneliness and anger.We're left without a chance,ignorant and remorseful among the ruins of our ambitions.To make a child aware of it's soul is something almost indecent.You're regarded as a dirty old man.How can you understand other people if you don't know anything about yourself?Now you're yawning,so that's the end of the lecture.”
―
―
“Ora, a solidão, ainda vai ter de aprender muito para saber o que isso é, Sempre vivi só, Também eu, mas a solidão não é viver só, a solidão é não sermos capazes de fazer companhia a alguém ou a alguma coisa que está dentro de nós, a solidão não é uma árvore no meio duma planície onde só ela esteja, é a distância entre a seiva profunda e a casca, entre a folha e a raiz, Você está a tresvariar, tudo quanto menciona está ligado entre si, aí não há nenhuma solidão, Deixemos a árvore, olhe para dentro de si e veja a solidão, Como disse o outro, solitário andar por entre a gente, Pior do que isso, solitário estar onde nem nós próprios estamos.”
― The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
― The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
“I understand, all right. The hopeless dream of being - not seeming, but being. At every waking moment, alert. The gulf between what you are with others and what you are alone. The vertigo and the constant hunger to be exposed, to be seen through, perhaps even wiped out. Every inflection and every gesture a lie, every smile a grimace. Suicide? No, too vulgar. But you can refuse to move, refuse to talk, so that you don't have to lie. You can shut yourself in. Then you needn't play any parts or make wrong gestures. Or so you thought. But reality is diabolical. Your hiding place isn't watertight. Life trickles in from the outside, and you're forced to react. No one asks if it is true or false, if you're genuine or just a sham. Such things matter only in the theatre, and hardly there either. I understand why you don't speak, why you don't move, why you've created a part for yourself out of apathy. I understand. I admire. You should go on with this part until it is played out, until it loses interest for you. Then you can leave it, just as you've left your other parts one by one.”
―
―
“Só esta liberdade nos concedem
Os deuses: submetermo-nos
Ao seu domínio por vontade nossa.
Mais vale assim fazermos
Porque só na ilusão da liberdade
A liberdade existe.”
― Odas de Ricardo Reis
Os deuses: submetermo-nos
Ao seu domínio por vontade nossa.
Mais vale assim fazermos
Porque só na ilusão da liberdade
A liberdade existe.”
― Odas de Ricardo Reis
Francisca’s 2025 Year in Books
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