--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every gesture, however simple, violates…" description: "\"“Every gesture, however simple, violates an inner secret. Every gesture is a revolutionary act; an exile, perhaps, from the true ... of our intentions...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c2/fernando-pessoa-177_gesture_every-gesture-however-simple-violates-an_2341185.jpg" --- # Every gesture, however simple, violates an inner secret… ![“Every gesture, however simple, violates an inner secret. Every gesture is a revolutionary act; an exile, perhaps, from the true ... of our intentions. Action is a disease of thought, a cancer of imagination. Action is self-exile. Every action is incomplete and flawed.” quote by Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c2/fernando-pessoa-177_gesture_every-gesture-however-simple-violates-an_2341185.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c2/fernando-pessoa-177_gesture_every-gesture-however-simple-violates-an_2341185.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c2/fernando-pessoa-177_gesture_every-gesture-however-simple-violates-an_2341185.jpg) > ““Every gesture, however simple, violates an inner secret. Every gesture is a revolutionary act; an exile, perhaps, from the true ... of our intentions. Action is a disease of thought, a cancer of imagination. Action is self-exile. Every action is incomplete and flawed.”” [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human actions betray hidden inner truths, making each gesture a rebellious act that distances us from authentic intentions. **In simple terms:** Actions reveal secret motives and alienate us from ourselves. Key Takeaway Recognize the inner motives behind your deeds. Themes authenticity rebellion self-awareness Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal relationships - creative collaboration - self-reflection Key Concepts existentialism psychology philosophy Questions to Reflect On - What inner secret does your next gesture reveal? - How can you align action with true intention? A Different Perspective Actions can never fully capture intention, leading to perpetual incompleteness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Action Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/action-self-380672/) [Exile Action](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile-action-5666138/) [Gesture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gesture/) [Gesture Revolutionary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gesture-revolutionary-5666137/) [Self Exile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-exile-296142/) ## Related quotes > [Every gesture is a revolutionary act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/every-gesture-is-a-revolutionary-act/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Were you indeed not blinded by the Curse Of Self-exile, that still grows worse and worse, Yourselves would know that, though you see him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/farid-al-din-attar/were-you-indeed-not-blinded-by-the-curse-of-self-exile-that-still/) [Farid al-Din Attar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/farid-al-din-attar/) > [“Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled;...As obedient children, do not conform to the”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/prepare-your-minds-for-action-be-self-controlled-as-obedient-children/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [“Once again, Whittemore escapes what might be a fatal mistake in another author. Far from the funhouse hall of mirrors one might expect from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-whittemore/once-again-whittemore-escapes-what-might-be-a-fatal-mistake-in/) [Edward Whittemore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-whittemore/) > [Peace must begin within self before there can come action or self application in a way to bring peace-even in thine own household, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-cayce/peace-must-begin-within-self-before-there-can-come-action-or-self/) [Edgar Cayce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-cayce/) > [I turned what was a wonderful case of self-reliance into a case of self-exile. Which is not uncommon, I think, in people who grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/i-turned-what-was-a-wonderful-case-of-self-reliance-into-a-case-of/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [“We must, however, urge it as a matter of the highest import, to cease from self-action and self-exertion, that God himself may act alone:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madame-guyon/we-must-however-urge-it-as-a-matter-of-the-highest-import-to-cease/) [Madame Guyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madame-guyon/) > [“Thanks. I forgot how to flip off the English. I'll use the correct hand gesture next time." "My pleasure. Always happy to educate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-perkins/thanks-i-forgot-how-to-flip-off-the-english-i-ll-use-the-correct-hand/) [Stephanie Perkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-perkins/) > [“The desire to describe voice, gesture, skin color, is a desire to eat, take over, make into part of the pattern. I am happy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-lockwood/the-desire-to-describe-voice-gesture-skin-color-is-a-desire-to-eat/) [Patricia Lockwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-lockwood/) > [Even the smallest gesture can make a huge difference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-butler/even-the-smallest-gesture-can-make-a-huge-difference/) [Billy Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-butler/) > [All my life I have struggled to make one authentic gesture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/all-my-life-i-have-struggled-to-make-one-authentic-gesture/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/then-something-unexpected-happens-at-least-i-don-t-expect-it-because/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Never raise your hand menacingly, but only in a friendly gesture!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-von-la-roche/never-raise-your-hand-menacingly-but-only-in-a-friendly-gesture/) [Sophie von La Roche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-von-la-roche/) > [“The first language humans had was gestures. There was nothing primitive about this language that flowed from people’s hands, nothing we say now that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/the-first-language-humans-had-was-gestures-there-was-nothing/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [All art is an intensely vulnerable gesture, and it is made with no small amounts of risk, and fear. So, I have plenty of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/all-art-is-an-intensely-vulnerable-gesture-and-it-is-made-with-no/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) ## More by Fernando Pessoa > [Everything interests me, but nothing holds me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/everything-interests-me-but-nothing-holds-me/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“If only, I feel now, if only I could be someone able to see all this as if he had no other relation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/if-only-i-feel-now-if-only-i-could-be-someone-able-to-see-all-this-as/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [What's given, in fact, always depends on the person or thing it's given to. A minor incident in the street brings the cook to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-s-given-in-fact-always-depends-on-the-person-or-thing-it-s-given/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Smell is a strange sight. It evokes sentimental landscapes through a sudden sketching of the subconscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/smell-is-a-strange-sight-it-evokes-sentimental-landscapes-through-a/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“Tudo vale a pena quando a alma não é pequena”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/tudo-vale-a-pena-quando-a-alma-n-o-pequena/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“no nostalgia hurts as much as nostalgia for things that never existed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/no-nostalgia-hurts-as-much-as-nostalgia-for-things-that-never-existed/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“The feelings that hurt most, the motions that sting most, are those that are absurd; the longing for impossible things, precisely because they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/the-feelings-that-hurt-most-the-motions-that-sting-most-are-those/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“I try to say what I feel Without thinking about what I feel. I try to place words right next to my idea So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/i-try-to-say-what-i-feel-without-thinking-about-what-i-feel-i-try-to/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Have you ever considered, beloved other, how invisible we are to each other? We look at each other without seeing. We listen to each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/have-you-ever-considered-beloved-other-how-invisible-we-are-to-each/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“To associate is to die. Only my consciousness of myself is real for me; other people are hazy phenomena in this consciousness, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/to-associate-is-to-die-only-my-consciousness-of-myself-is-real-for-me/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“When it comes to dreams, I’m no different from the errand boy and the seamstress. The only thing that distinguishes me from them is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/when-it-comes-to-dreams-i-m-no-different-from-the-errand-boy-and-the/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it. Collective thought is stupid because it’s collective. Nothing passes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/no-intelligent-idea-can-gain-general-acceptance-unless-some-stupidity/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [God gave the sea the danger and the abyss, but it was in it that He mirrored the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/god-gave-the-sea-the-danger-and-the-abyss-but-it-was-in-it-that-he/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“Everything that surrounds us becomes part of us, it seeps into us with every experience of the flesh and of life and, like the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/everything-that-surrounds-us-becomes-part-of-us-it-seeps-into-us-with/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) [Explore all 781 Fernando Pessoa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) ## More Gesture quotes > [“The first language humans had was gestures. There was nothing primitive about this language that flowed from people’s hands, nothing we say now that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/the-first-language-humans-had-was-gestures-there-was-nothing/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [Never raise your hand menacingly, but only in a friendly gesture!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-von-la-roche/never-raise-your-hand-menacingly-but-only-in-a-friendly-gesture/) [Sophie von La Roche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-von-la-roche/) > [“The desire to describe voice, gesture, skin color, is a desire to eat, take over, make into part of the pattern. I am happy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-lockwood/the-desire-to-describe-voice-gesture-skin-color-is-a-desire-to-eat/) [Patricia Lockwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-lockwood/) > [“Thanks. I forgot how to flip off the English. I'll use the correct hand gesture next time." "My pleasure. Always happy to educate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-perkins/thanks-i-forgot-how-to-flip-off-the-english-i-ll-use-the-correct-hand/) [Stephanie Perkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-perkins/) > [All art is an intensely vulnerable gesture, and it is made with no small amounts of risk, and fear. So, I have plenty of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/all-art-is-an-intensely-vulnerable-gesture-and-it-is-made-with-no/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) > [Even the smallest gesture can make a huge difference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-butler/even-the-smallest-gesture-can-make-a-huge-difference/) [Billy Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-butler/) > [All my life I have struggled to make one authentic gesture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/all-my-life-i-have-struggled-to-make-one-authentic-gesture/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/then-something-unexpected-happens-at-least-i-don-t-expect-it-because/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [“She gives me the finger and turns back around. "Did you see that?" I flinch at the gesture. "That is completely illegal in here.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/addison-moore/she-gives-me-the-finger-and-turns-back-around-did-you-see-that-i/) [Addison Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/addison-moore/) > [There's something strange about a laptop, how you can make the tiniest gesture and make the biggest sound. I don't feel I've resolved working…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-meredith/there-s-something-strange-about-a-laptop-how-you-can-make-the-tiniest/) [Anna Meredith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-meredith/) > [The most shocking act, closely examined, is just a louder version of some habitual gesture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-choi/the-most-shocking-act-closely-examined-is-just-a-louder-version-of/) [Susan Choi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-choi/) > [“He extended a finger to her face, the simple gesture bringing into play the sleek muscles of his shoulders and arms. “You are so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-lange/he-extended-a-finger-to-her-face-the-simple-gesture-bringing-into/) [Chris Lange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-lange/) > [Before they got vengeful, conservatives had some useful points to make about welfare. Government 'help' is too often guilt-assuaging gesture. It creates layers of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donella-meadows/before-they-got-vengeful-conservatives-had-some-useful-points-to-make/) [Donella Meadows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donella-meadows/) > [“It is only a gesture,” he said, turning back to Shadow. “But gestures mean everything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/it-is-only-a-gesture-he-said-turning-back-to-shadow-but-gestures-mean/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [The gesture of taking the watch from the pocket and looking at the time is very elegant for a man, but if I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-mille/the-gesture-of-taking-the-watch-from-the-pocket-and-looking-at-the/) [Richard Mille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-mille/) [Browse all 180 Gesture quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gesture/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Every gesture, however simple, violates an inner secret. 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