--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My soul is a black maelstrom, a great…" description: "\"“My soul is a black maelstrom, a great madness spinning about a vacuum, the swirling of a vast ocean around a hole in the void, and in the waters, more..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08b/fernando-pessoa-177_bottom_my-soul-is-a-black-maelstrom-a-great-mad_1989884.jpg" --- # My soul is a black maelstrom, a great madness spinning… ![“My soul is a black maelstrom, a great madness spinning about a vacuum, the swirling of a vast ocean around a hole in the void, and in the waters, more like whirlwinds than waters, float images of all I ever saw or heard in the world: houses, faces, books, boxes, snatches of music and fragments of…” quote by Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08b/fernando-pessoa-177_bottom_my-soul-is-a-black-maelstrom-a-great-mad_1989884.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08b/fernando-pessoa-177_bottom_my-soul-is-a-black-maelstrom-a-great-mad_1989884.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08b/fernando-pessoa-177_bottom_my-soul-is-a-black-maelstrom-a-great-mad_1989884.jpg) > ““My soul is a black maelstrom, a great madness spinning about a vacuum, the swirling of a vast ocean around a hole in the void, and in the waters, more like whirlwinds than waters, float images of all I ever saw or heard in the world: houses, faces, books, boxes, snatches of music and fragments of voices, all caught up in a sinister, bottomless whirlpool.”” [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. A chaotic inner world where memories and sensations swirl like a dark vortex. **In simple terms:** Mind feels like a storm. Key Takeaway Acknowledge and explore inner turbulence. Themes introspection chaos memory Mood melancholic reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - therapy - artistic expression - mindfulness practice Key Concepts existentialism surrealism psychology Questions to Reflect On - What images dominate your inner storm? - How can you find calm amid mental whirlpools? A Different Perspective The darkness may overwhelm clarity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Madness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/madness/) [Maelstrom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maelstrom/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Ocean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ocean/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Vacuum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vacuum/) [Vast ocean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vast-ocean/) [Void](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/void/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [“Today, suddenly, I reached an absurd but unerring conclusion. In a moment of enlightenment, I realized that I'm nobody, absolutely nobody. When the lightning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/today-suddenly-i-reached-an-absurd-but-unerring-conclusion-in-a/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Inside him, twenty years dissolved and mixed into one complex, swirling whole. Everything that had accumulated over the years-- all he had seen, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/inside-him-twenty-years-dissolved-and-mixed-into-one-complex-swirling/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Its spinner was black and had a swirling white”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-makos/its-spinner-was-black-and-had-a-swirling-white/) [Adam Makos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-makos/) > [Rumors are always swirling, never twerking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikhil-saluja/rumors-are-always-swirling-never-twerking/) [Nikhil Saluja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikhil-saluja/) > [We never know when something beautiful will grow out of the dust thats swirling around us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kumar-anupam/we-never-know-when-something-beautiful-will-grow-out-of-the-dust/) [Kumar Anupam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kumar-anupam/) > [“the large black birds swirling and dispersing over”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-london/the-large-black-birds-swirling-and-dispersing-over/) [Joan London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-london/) > [“Each day is always breaking out anew Aspirations swirling round what you do”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-l-ratliff/each-day-is-always-breaking-out-anew-aspirations-swirling-round-what/) [Richard L. 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Smith II > [Across the troubled maelstrom of time, people always need a beer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-kushner/across-the-troubled-maelstrom-of-time-people-always-need-a-beer/) [Ellen Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-kushner/) ## 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. 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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 Bottom quotes > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [Filmmaking, like sex, isn't a polite enterprise. 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