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Autism Quote by Fernando Pessoa

“And with a relentlessness that comes from the world's depths, with a persistence that strikes the keys metaphysically, the scales of a piano student keep playing over and over, up and down the physical backbone of my memory. It's the old streets with other people, the same streets that today are…” quote by Fernando Pessoa
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““And with a relentlessness that comes from the world's depths, with a persistence that strikes the keys metaphysically, the scales of a piano student keep playing over and over, up and down the physical backbone of my memory. It's the old streets with other people, the same streets that today are different; it's dead people speaking to me through the transparency of their absence; it's remorse for what I did or didn't do; it's the rippling of streams in the night, noises from below in the quiet building. I feel like screaming inside my head. I want to stop, to break, to smash this impossible phonograph record that keeps playing inside me, where it doesn't belong, an intangible torturer. I want my soul, a vehicle taken over by others, to let me off and go on without me. I'm going crazy from having to hear. And in the end it is I – in my odiously impressionable brain, in my thin skin, in my hypersensitive nerves – who am the keys played in scales, O horrible and personal piano of our memory.””

Fernando Pessoa

About This Quote

Source Poem: “Autopsicografia” (fragment), 1915

The mind is haunted by relentless memories and emotions that replay like a broken record, creating inner turmoil and a sense of being trapped.

In simple terms: Persistent memories replay, causing inner chaos.

Key Takeaway

Find ways to quiet the mental replay.

Themes

memory identity psychology

Mood

melancholic intense

Type

poetic reflective

When to use this quote

  • writing sessions
  • therapy
  • mindfulness meditation
  • artistic creation

Key Concepts

existentialism inner conflict creative struggle

Questions to Reflect On

  • What does the “piano” symbolize for you?
  • How can you transform painful memories into creative energy?
A Different Perspective

The metaphor of a piano may oversimplify complex emotional experiences.

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