"The wise man makes his life monotonous, for then even the tiniest incident becomes imbued with great significance . . . The truly wise man could enjoy the whole spectacle of the world from his armchair; he wouldn't need to talk to anyone or to know how to read, just how to make use of his five sense and a soul innocent of sadness. One must monotonize existence in order to rid it of monotony. One must make the everyday so anodyne that the slightest incident proves entertaining.
"Because I am nothing, I can imagine myself to be anything."
Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet, Serpent's Tail, 1991
Edited by Maria Jose de Lancastre
Translated by Margaret Jull Costa