--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My soul is impatient with itself, as with…" description: "\"My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but noth..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/fernando-pessoa-177_book-of-disquiet_my-soul-is-impatient-with-itself-as-with_1455946.jpg" --- # My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome… ![“My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but nothing holds me. I attend to everything, dreaming all the while.” quote by Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/fernando-pessoa-177_book-of-disquiet_my-soul-is-impatient-with-itself-as-with_1455946.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/fernando-pessoa-177_book-of-disquiet_my-soul-is-impatient-with-itself-as-with_1455946.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/fernando-pessoa-177_book-of-disquiet_my-soul-is-impatient-with-itself-as-with_1455946.jpg) > “My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but nothing holds me. I attend to everything, dreaming all the while.” [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. The speaker feels restless, constantly seeking but never finding lasting focus, leading to perpetual dissatisfaction. **In simple terms:** Restless mind never settles. Key Takeaway Embrace focus, limit distractions. Themes restlessness search discontent Mood melancholic reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative work - learning - personal growth - mindfulness practices Key Concepts existentialism psychology attention Questions to Reflect On - What can you let go to deepen one pursuit? - How does constant curiosity affect productivity? A Different Perspective Too much variety can dilute depth and mastery. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book of disquiet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book-of-disquiet/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Twins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twins/) ## Related quotes > [“My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/my-soul-is-impatient-with-itself-as-with-a-bothersome-child-its-2/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/my-soul-is-impatient-with-itself-as-with-a-bothersome-child-its-3/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“No other writer ever achieved such a direct transference of self to paper. The Book of Disquiet is the world’s strangest photograph, made out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/no-other-writer-ever-achieved-such-a-direct-transference-of-self-to/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Art consists in making others feel what we feel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/art-consists-in-making-others-feel-what-we-feel/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Look, there's no metaphysics on earth but chocolates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/look-there-s-no-metaphysics-on-earth-but-chocolates/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [what has happened to us has happened to everyone or only us; if to everyone, then it's no novelty, and if only to us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-has-happened-to-us-has-happened-to-everyone-or-only-us-if-to-2/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“Pessoa invented The Book of Disquiet, which never existed, strictly speaking, and can never exist. What we have here isn’t a book but its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pessoa-invented-the-book-of-disquiet-which-never-existed-strictly/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [One or another man, liberated or cursed, suddenly sees-but even this man sees rarely-that all we are is what we aren't, that we fool…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/one-or-another-man-liberated-or-cursed-suddenly-sees-but-even-this/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“Freedom is the possibility of isolation. You are free if you can withdraw from people, not having to seek them out for the sake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/freedom-is-the-possibility-of-isolation-you-are-free-if-you-can-2/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“what has happened to us has happened to everyone or only us; if to everyone, then it's no novelty, and if only to us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-has-happened-to-us-has-happened-to-everyone-or-only-us-if-to/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [What can I expect from myself? My sensation in all their horrible acuity, and a profound awareness of feeling. A sharp mind that only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-can-i-expect-from-myself-my-sensation-in-all-their-horrible-2/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [There are metaphors more real than the people who walk in the street.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/there-are-metaphors-more-real-than-the-people-who-walk-in-the-street/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Should I be what I think? But I think about being so many things!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/should-i-be-what-i-think-but-i-think-about-being-so-many-things/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“Air of your country; when it comes. Brings your fragrance. It makes my soul Impatient and I wish to see you with a thousand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asif/air-of-your-country-when-it-comes-brings-your-fragrance-it-makes-my/) [Asif](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asif/) > [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/) ## 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 Book of disquiet quotes > [Should I be what I think? But I think about being so many things!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/should-i-be-what-i-think-but-i-think-about-being-so-many-things/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [There are metaphors more real than the people who walk in the street.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/there-are-metaphors-more-real-than-the-people-who-walk-in-the-street/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [What can I expect from myself? My sensation in all their horrible acuity, and a profound awareness of feeling. A sharp mind that only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-can-i-expect-from-myself-my-sensation-in-all-their-horrible-2/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“what has happened to us has happened to everyone or only us; if to everyone, then it's no novelty, and if only to us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-has-happened-to-us-has-happened-to-everyone-or-only-us-if-to/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Through an experience that simultaneously involved my sensibility and intelligence, I realized early on that the imaginative life, however morbid it might seem, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/through-an-experience-that-simultaneously-involved-my-sensibility-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Freedom is the possibility of isolation. You are free if you can withdraw from people, not having to seek them out for the sake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/freedom-is-the-possibility-of-isolation-you-are-free-if-you-can-2/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [One or another man, liberated or cursed, suddenly sees-but even this man sees rarely-that all we are is what we aren't, that we fool…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/one-or-another-man-liberated-or-cursed-suddenly-sees-but-even-this/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“Pessoa invented The Book of Disquiet, which never existed, strictly speaking, and can never exist. What we have here isn’t a book but its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pessoa-invented-the-book-of-disquiet-which-never-existed-strictly/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [what has happened to us has happened to everyone or only us; if to everyone, then it's no novelty, and if only to us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-has-happened-to-us-has-happened-to-everyone-or-only-us-if-to-2/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Look, there's no metaphysics on earth but chocolates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/look-there-s-no-metaphysics-on-earth-but-chocolates/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Art consists in making others feel what we feel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/art-consists-in-making-others-feel-what-we-feel/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [“No other writer ever achieved such a direct transference of self to paper. The Book of Disquiet is the world’s strangest photograph, made out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/no-other-writer-ever-achieved-such-a-direct-transference-of-self-to/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) [Browse all 13 Book of disquiet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book-of-disquiet/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but nothing holds me. 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