Authoritarian, paralyzing, circular, occasionally elliptical stock phrases, also jocularly referred to as nuggets of wisdom, are a malignant plague, one of the very worst ever to ravage the earth.

We have an odd relationship with words. We learn a few when we are small, throughout our lives we collect others through education, conversation, our contact with books, and yet, in comparison, there are only...

Tentei não fazer nada na minha vida que envergonhasse a criança que fui.Quando me for deste mundo, partirão duas pessoas. Sairei de mão dada, com essa criança que fui.

Tens de aprender a viver com a escuridão de fora como aprendeste a viver com a escuridão de dentro.

Assim é, mas a vantagem da igreja é que, embora às vezes o não pareça, ao gerir o que está no alto, governa o que está em baixo.

Fortunately the essence of this revelation did not escape Mary despite the angel’s obscure speech, and, much surprised, she asked him, So Jesus is my son and the son of the Lord, Woman, what are...

Samoća nije živeti sam, samoća je kad nismo sposobni da pravimo društvo nekome ili nečemu što se nalazi duboko u nama, samoća nije usamljeno drvo nasred puste ravnice, to je rastojanje između skrivenih sokova i...

A viagem não acaba nunca. Só os viajantes acabam

Cain considers life and can find no explanation for it, there is that woman, who although clearly sick with desire is enjoying postponing the moment of surrender, which is not at all the right word,...

Such is our need to shower blame on some distant entity when it is we who lack the courage to face up to what is there before us.

..then he added, as if requiring a response to his own remark,’Probably the greater the difference, the greater the similarity, and the greater the similarity, the greater the difference,’ at that moment he did not...

Whether we like it or not, the one justification for the existence of all religions is death, they need death as much as we need bread to eat.

Life is like that, full of words that are not worth saying or that were worth saying once but not any more, each word that we utter will take up the space of another more...

There is nothing healthier for a man than to walk on his own two legs

… assim é que a vida deve ser, quando um desanima, o outro agarra-se às próprias tripas e faz delas coração.

blindness is a private matter between a person and the eyes with which he or she was born.

The virtue of maps, they show what can be done with limited space, they foresee that everything can happen therein.

Chaos is merely order waiting to be deciphered

Não tenhamos pressa, mas não percamos tempo.

Not only does the universe have its own laws, all of them indifferent to the contradictory dreams and desires of humanity, and in the formulation of which we contribute not one iota, apart, that is,...

Evidentemente, muitos destes cegos estao a ser pisados, empurrados, esmurrados, é o efeito do p nico, um efeito natural, pode-se dizer, a natureza animal é mesmo assim, também a vegetal se comportaria de igual maneira...

The instant is gone, time has carried us into the realm of memory, it was like this, no, it was not, and everything becomes what we choose to invent.

There are people like Senhor José everywhere, who fill their time, or what they believe to be their spare time, by collecting stamps, coins, medals, vases, postcards, matchboxes, books, clocks, sport shirts, autographs, stones, clay...

Somos o que pensamos, e dizemos aquilo que pensamos com palavras. Se as palavras são tão mal usadas, deturpadas, mal pronunciadas muitas vezes, que pensamento podem expressar? Isso é frustrante.

Dignity has no price, when someone starts making small concessions, in the end, life loses all meaning.

Só porque vivemos absortos é que não reparamos que o que nos vai acontecendo deixa intacto, em cada momento, o que nos pode acontecer.

…we confidently say that it’s not worth trying to reach any conclusions merely because we decide to stop halfway along the path that would lead us straight to them.

Certaines relations harmonieuses se créent et durent gr ce à un système complexe de menues contre-vérités, de renoncements, une espèce de ballet complice d’attitudes et de postures qui peut se résumer dans un proverbe jamais...

doubt is the privilege of those who have lived a long time,

Liking is probably the best form of ownership, and ownership the worst form of liking.

The trouble with this dog is that it has grown too close to human beings, it will suffer as they do.

…as cartas de amor são rídiculas, isto é o que escreve quando já a morte vem subindo a escada, quando se torna de súbito claro que verdadeiramente ridículo é não ter recebido nunca uma carta...

The worst pain … isn’t the pain you feel at the time, it’s the pain you feel later on when there’s nothing you can do about it, They say that time heals all wounds, But...

However hard he tried, he could never manage to make himself visible to human eyes and not because he can’t, since for him nothing is impossible, it’s simply that he wouldn’t know what face to...

… it’s all words and only words, and beyond the words there’s nothing… a word, which, like all the others, can only be explained by more words, but since the words we use to explain...

Baltasar Mateus, o Sete-Sóis, está calado, apenas olha fixamente Blimunda, e de cada vez que ela o olha a ele sente um aperto na boca do estômago, porque olhos como estes nunca se viram, claros...

Cada día que nace es el primero para unos y será el último para otros.

Cómo está Marta, preguntará él, Cansada, pero bien, responderé yo, y estas palabras también las andamos diciendo constantemente, no me extrañaría nada que cuando transitemos de este mundo hacia el otro todavía consigamos encontrar fuerzas...

In a matter of a moment the amount of sand in the upper part of the hour-glass had dwindled dramatically, the tiny grains were rushing through the opening, each grain more eager to leave then...

… that’s how life should be, when one person loses heart, the other must have heart and courage enough for both.

Amo gli occhi di una donna, la sua pelle, la sua passione, tutto. Parlo tanto, fin troppo, ma ci sono momenti che rimango in silenzio ad ascoltarmi. E’ in quei momenti che fabbrico i miei...

There are such moments in life, when, in order for heaven to open, it is necessary for a door to close.

..there are times when it is best to be content with what one has, so as not to lose everything.

a man was on his way to the gallows when he met another, who asked him: where are you going, my friend? and the condemned man replied: i’m not going anywhere. they’re taking me by...

Sözcüklere ne kadar dikkat edilse azdır, onlar da insanlar gibi bir fikirden diğerine geçiverirler.

Não é só a voz do sangue que não precisa de olhos, o amor, que dizem ser cego, também tem a sua palavra a dizer

Não aprendeste nada, vai-te, dissera o Pastor, e quiçá quisesse dizer que ele não aprendera a defender a vida.

… time is a master of ceremonies who always ends up putting us in our rightful place, we advance, stop, and retreat according to his orders, our mistake lies in imagining that we can catch...

Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt. Some say that the main cause of this very serious difficulty...

If I’m sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow?