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José Saramago – A Life Full of Portuguese Posted by on Jun 25, 2010 in Culture, Literature

Today Brazil and Portugal battle it out on the field in the World Cup, and although both countries are “rivals,” on the grass, and there is a friendly rivalry in many other aspects amongst the two nations, every once in a while, there’s a person or happening that’s just as important to one as it is to the other.  Last week, José Saramago, a Portuguese writer, passed away.  And for one day – I saw Brazilians talking about something other than the World Cup.  Most famous for his book, Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira, in English, Blindness (yes, the movie was based on his book!); he was also the only lusophone to win a Nobel Prize in Literature for his book, O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo (“The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”).  Despite his fervent communist and atheist views (which were so controversial he exiled himself from Portugal), his work is so powerful that I know in Brazil, students are taught to recite his poetry in classrooms.

So since Saramago’s such an important figure in the Portuguese language, I’d like to pay a Portuguese Blog homage to him with a few [simples to read] quotes by him for you guys!

Gostar é provavelmente a melhor maneira de ter, ter deve ser a pior maneira de gostar.

Todos sabemos que cada dia que nasce é o primeiro para uns e será o último para outros e que, para a maioria, é só um dia mais.

Não tenhamos pressa, mas não percamos tempo.

De que adianta falar de motivos, às vezes basta um só, às vezes nem juntando todos.

Se podes olhar, vê. Se podes ver, repara.

Dentro de nós há uma coisa que não tem nome, essa coisa é o que somos.

Sempre chega a hora em que descobrimos que sabíamos muito mais do que antes julgávamos.

Mesmo que a rota da minha vida me conduza a uma estrela, nem por isso fui dispensado de percorrer os caminhos do mundo.

Não sou um ateu total, todos os dias tento encontrar um sinal de Deus, mas infelizmente não o encontro.

This cartoon, I think, exemplifies the last quote!
Saramago Ateu
And since I couldn’t end this post without mentioning soccer…

O que as vitórias têm de mau é que não são definitivas. O que as derrotas têm de bom é que também não são definitivas.

Good luck to both teams today and may Brazil the best squad win!!

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Comments:

  1. Maria Clara Soares Correia:

    Big Big hello from Portugal! thanks for this post. (We, Portuguese) and Brazilians are like brothers quarrelling and still loving each other! Good and evil is inside us all…
    Hope Caim will not kill Abel, this time!
    Loved the cartoon!
    Let’ s go on quarrelling…
    Obrigada
    Clara

  2. Jeanne:

    Saramago is/was one of my favorite writers so I was devastated when I heard about his death. Definitely it is a huge loss for literature.
    🙁