--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Man shouldn't be able to see his own…" description: "\"Man shouldn't be able to see his own face. That's what's most terrible. Nature gave him the possibility of not seeing it, as well as the incapacity of ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77b/fernando-pessoa-177_able_man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-fac_2393778.jpg" --- # Man shouldn't be able to see his own face. That's what's… ![“Man shouldn't be able to see his own face. That's what's most terrible. Nature gave him the possibility of not seeing it, as well as the incapacity of not seeing his own eyes.” quote by Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77b/fernando-pessoa-177_able_man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-fac_2393778.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77b/fernando-pessoa-177_able_man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-fac_2393778.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77b/fernando-pessoa-177_able_man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-fac_2393778.jpg) > “Man shouldn't be able to see his own face. That's what's most terrible. Nature gave him the possibility of not seeing it, as well as the incapacity of not seeing his own eyes.” [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. Seeing one's own face is impossible; this blindness protects us from confronting ourselves fully. **In simple terms:** We cannot fully see ourselves. Key Takeaway Accept the mystery of self. Themes identity self-awareness perception existential null Mood melancholic introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - self-reflection - therapy - artistic creation - daily introspection Key Concepts philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of yourself do you avoid seeing? - How does this blindness affect your choices? A Different Perspective Denial of self can hinder growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mirrors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mirrors/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) ## Related quotes > [“Our insight into the need of redemption will largely depend upon our knowledge of the terrible nature of the power that has entered our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-murray/our-insight-into-the-need-of-redemption-will-largely-depend-upon-our/) [Andrew Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-murray/) > [“I hated my face, for example, found it odious, and even suspected that there was some mean expression in it, and therefore every time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/i-hated-my-face-for-example-found-it-odious-and-even-suspected-that/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [“The only thing I feel to be really mine is a huge incapacity, a vast emptiness, an incompetence for everything that is life. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/the-only-thing-i-feel-to-be-really-mine-is-a-huge-incapacity-a-vast/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [I'm going to end a life that I thought could contain every kind of greatness but that in fact consisted only of my incapacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/i-m-going-to-end-a-life-that-i-thought-could-contain-every-kind-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [The learned are said to have seeing eyes; The unlearned have only two sores on their faces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thiruvalluvar/the-learned-are-said-to-have-seeing-eyes-the-unlearned-have-only-two/) [Thiruvalluvar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thiruvalluvar/) > [Seeing yourself with the eyes of love makes it natural to see the Divine Spirit in everyone you meet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/seeing-yourself-with-the-eyes-of-love-makes-it-natural-to-see-the/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [The great poet is always a seer, seeing less with the eyes of the body than he does with the eyes of the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-great-poet-is-always-a-seer-seeing-less-with-the-eyes-of-the-body/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Believing is seeing what our eyes cannot see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianette-carbito/believing-is-seeing-what-our-eyes-cannot-see/) [Marianette Carbito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianette-carbito/) > [Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/seeing-with-the-eyes-of-christ-i-can-give-to-others-much-more-than/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) > [“The point is, the only real tools we have are our eyes and our heads. It's not the act of seeing with our eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-ellis/the-point-is-the-only-real-tools-we-have-are-our-eyes-and-our-heads/) [Warren Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-ellis/) > [seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-adler/seeing-with-the-eyes-of-another-listening-with-the-ears-of-another/) [Alfred Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-adler/) > [“The first thing you need to do is stop seeing yourself through the eyes of those you’ve left behind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-first-thing-you-need-to-do-is-stop-seeing-yourself-through-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [But I never looked like that!’ - How do you know? What is the ‘you’ you might or might not look like? Where do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/but-i-never-looked-like-that-how-do-you-know-what-is-the-you-you/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [Poetry is not a code to be broken but a way of seeing with the eyes shut.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/poetry-is-not-a-code-to-be-broken-but-a-way-of-seeing-with-the-eyes/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [“I don’t know what I’m seeing in his eyes now. Something raw and hungry. Or maybe I’m just seeing a reflection of my own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-milan/i-don-t-know-what-i-m-seeing-in-his-eyes-now-something-raw-and-hungry/) [Courtney Milan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-milan/) ## 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 Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [I think I've had the longest career of strength, focus, and still being able to sell records. I think I'm that guy. I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) Greg Perry > [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-metheny/i-don-t-know-if-i-would-qualify-as-mainstream-i-think-i-have-managed/) [Pat Metheny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-metheny/) > [What we're supposed to do as actors is be able to portray real human beings and emotions. And if you grow up in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-browning/what-we-re-supposed-to-do-as-actors-is-be-able-to-portray-real-human/) [Emily Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-browning/) > [The reason that Apple is able to create products like iPad is because we always try to be at the intersection of technology and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/the-reason-that-apple-is-able-to-create-products-like-ipad-is-because/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [It was an important period for us, because even though we weren't a "punk band", and what became a model for a punk band,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mallinder/it-was-an-important-period-for-us-because-even-though-we-weren-t-a/) [Stephen Mallinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mallinder/) > [- You look fine. - Right. I look fine. Except I don't, said Zora, tugging sadly at her man's nightshirt. This was why Kiki…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/you-look-fine-right-i-look-fine-except-i-don-t-said-zora-tugging/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [There is a way to be a woman, ask for what we deserve and be able to negotiate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracee-ellis-ross/there-is-a-way-to-be-a-woman-ask-for-what-we-deserve-and-be-able-to/) [Tracee Ellis Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracee-ellis-ross/) Browse all 17,257 Able quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Man shouldn't be able to see his own face. That's what's most terrible. Nature gave him the possibility of not seeing it, as well as the incapacity of not seeing his own eyes.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Fernando Pessoa" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-face-that-s-what-s-most-terrible/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Able" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-face-that-s-what-s-most-terrible/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77b/fernando-pessoa-177_able_man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-fac_2393778.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77b/fernando-pessoa-177_able_man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-fac_2393778.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77b/fernando-pessoa-177_able_man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-fac_2393778.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Man shouldn't be able to see his own face. That's what's most terrible. Nature gave him the possibility of…” — Fernando Pessoa", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Fernando Pessoa", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Man shouldn't be able to see...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-face-that-s-what-s-most-terrible/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/man-shouldn-t-be-able-to-see-his-own-face-that-s-what-s-most-terrible/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```