122 Quotes by Portuguese authors

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Portuguese words often carry the weight of tide and tile: brisk Atlantic air, the hush of azulejos, a guitar’s tremor. These sayings and lines kindle saudade without surrendering to despair, balancing irony with tenderness, faith with doubt. They savor small things, bread still warm, a neighbor’s nod, and wrestle quietly with fate, distance, and the stubborn dignity of work. Plaintive yet sly, they turn common days into parables, letting humor salt the melancholy, and memory speak in whispers that linger longer than the final note of fado.

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"The period that I could consider the most important in my literary work came about beginning with the Revolution, and in a certain way, developed as a consequence of the Revolution. But it was also a result of the counterrevolutionary coup of November 1975"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"It is difficult to understand these people who democratically take part in elections and a referendum, but are then incapable of democratically accepting the will of the people"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"In the end we discover the only condition for living is to die"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"I am the same person I was before receiving the Nobel Prize. I work with the same regularity, I have not modified my habits, I have the same friends"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Americans have discovered fear"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Society has to change, but the political powers we have at the moment are not enough to effect this change. The whole democratic system would have to be rethought"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"I presume that nobody will deny the positive aspects of the North American cultural world. These are well known to all. But these aspects do not make one forget the disastrous effects of the industrial and commercial process of 'cultural lamination' that the USA is perpetrating on the planet"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Abstention means you stayed at home or went to the beach. By casting a blank vote, you're saying you have a political conscience but you don't agree with any of the existing parties"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"I always ask two questions: How many countries have military bases in the United States? And in how many countries does the United States not have military bases?"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Americans have discovered the fragility of life, that ominous fragility that the rest of the world either already experienced or is experiencing now with terrible intensity"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"There are plenty of reasons not to put up with the world as it is"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Perhaps it is the language that chooses the writers it needs, making use of them so that each might express a tiny part of what it is"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"It is economic power that determines political power, and governments become the political functionaries of economic power"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"I am not a prophet"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"A human being is a being who is constantly 'under construction,' but also, in a parallel fashion, always in a state of constant destruction"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"Could it think, the heart would stop beating"

Fernando Pessoa, Author

"Success consists in being successful, not in having potential for success. Any wide piece of ground is the potential site of a palace, but there's no palace till it's built"

Fernando Pessoa, Author

"No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it"

Fernando Pessoa, Author

"At first, it's unfamiliar, then it strikes root"

Fernando Pessoa, Author

"All is worthwhile if the soul is not small"

Fernando Pessoa, Author

"To choose ways of not acting was ever the concern and scruple of my life"

Fernando Pessoa, Author

"It's just a bunch of songs. I'm not trying to cure any major disease"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

"It's hard to know exactly what it sounds like to me. I'm in the studio and I write it. and that's it"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

"Even with Extreme, I don't think you have a choice but to sort of have somewhat of an influence of the times"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

"The team is completely close. Anything you say outside, there is no chance it will go inside. So the team is really strong and compact. We know what we want and how to achieve it on the pitch"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"The Porto players were with me for two and a half years, they believed in me, in my methods, in the way we do it. The next day I go and a manager arrives who works completely differently"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"So I know all about the ups and downs of football, I know that one day I will be sacked"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"I don't say we are a defensive team. I say we are a strong team in defensive terms, but at the same time lacking sufficient fluidity in attack because that will take time to come"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"And I think because of the passion of every English player and every English supporter, and every English journalist for the game, most of the game is played with passion, love for football and instinct, but in football you also have to think"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"When you just work tactically, in pure football sessions, you can see the way they can think football"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"In the same way that I had to follow an Italian manager here, I can imagine that it was not easy for an Italian manager to follow me at Porto"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"I was nine or 10 years old and my father was sacked on Christmas Day. He was a manager, the results had not been good, he lost a game on December 22 or 23. On Christmas Day, the telephone rang and he was sacked in the middle of our lunch"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"I think the best place to work in football is England"

Jose Mourinho, Coach

"The touring part is really mixed. You love to play and you can't wait to go, but you don't want to leave"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

"As opposed to touring for three years and then going into the studio and writing an album, I think this record is representative of a lot of everyday people"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

"I am affected by what is around. I don't think many people would admit that"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

"There's two facets to writing a song. There's you sitting in your room writing the sentiments of the song; the lyrics, the melody and the changes, and then there's the part where you go into the studio and you put clothing on it"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

"I definitely get affected by new stuff. There's a lot of older influences, but there's also newer stuff too"

Nuno Bettencourt, Musician

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