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We worship perfection because we can't have it; if we had it, we would reject it. Perfection is inhuman, because humanity is imperfect.
Fernando Pessoa
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on humanity's unattainable pursuit of perfection and the acceptance of our inherent imperfections.

Fernando Pessoa suggests that our admiration for perfection stems from its unattainability. If perfection were achievable, it would lose its allure and might even be rejected, as it does not align with our human nature, which is inherently flawed and imperfect. This highlights the value of embracing our imperfections as a crucial aspect of being human.

Themes

PerfectionImperfectionHumanityAcceptanceFlaws

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a speech about embracing our flaws during a personal development workshop.

More from Fernando Pessoa

I have at this moment so many fundamental thoughts, so many truly metaphysical things to say, that I suddenly get tired and decide not to write any more, not to think any more, but to allow the fever of speaking to make me sleepy, and with my eyes closed, like a cat, I play with everything I could have said.
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It's been months since I last wrote. I've lived in a state of mental slumber, leading the life of someone else. I've felt, very often, a vicarious happiness. I haven't existed. I've been someone else. I've lived without thinking.
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We all have two lives: The true, the one we dreamed of in childhood And go on dreaming of as adults in a substratum of mist; the false, the one we love when we live with others, the practical, the useful, the one we end up by being put in a coffin.
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I'm a man for whom the outside world is an inner Reality.
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My dreams are a stupid refuge, like an umbrella against a thunderbolt.
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The chill of what I won't feel gnaws at my present heart.
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Quote by Fernando Pessoa | QuoteProject