--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One of my constant preoccupations is…" description: "\"“One of my constant preoccupations is trying to understand how it is that other people exist, how it is that there are souls other than mine and consci..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ea/fernando-pessoa-177_existentialism_one-of-my-constant-preoccupations-is-try_870599.jpg" --- # One of my constant preoccupations is trying to understand… ![“One of my constant preoccupations is trying to understand how it is that other people exist, how it is that there are souls other than mine and consciousnesses not my own, which, because it is a consciousness, seems to me unique. I understand perfectly that the man before me uttering words similar…” quote by Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ea/fernando-pessoa-177_existentialism_one-of-my-constant-preoccupations-is-try_870599.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ea/fernando-pessoa-177_existentialism_one-of-my-constant-preoccupations-is-try_870599.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ea/fernando-pessoa-177_existentialism_one-of-my-constant-preoccupations-is-try_870599.jpg) > ““One of my constant preoccupations is trying to understand how it is that other people exist, how it is that there are souls other than mine and consciousnesses not my own, which, because it is a consciousness, seems to me unique. I understand perfectly that the man before me uttering words similar to mine and making the same gestures I make, or could make, is in some way my fellow creature. However, I feel just the same about the people in illustrations I dream up, about the characters I see in novels or the dramatis personae on the stage who speak through the actors representing them. I suppose no one truly admits the existence of another person. One might concede that the other person is alive and feels and thinks like oneself, but there will always be an element of difference, a perceptible discrepancy, that one cannot quite put one's finger on. There are figures from times past, fantasy-images in books that seem more real to us than these specimens of indifference-made-flesh who speak to us across the counters of bars, or catch our eye in trams, or brush past us in the empty randomness of the streets. The others are just part of the landscape for us, usually the invisible landscape of the familiar. I feel closer ties and more intimate bonds with certain characters in books, with certain images I've seen in engravings, that with many supposedly real people, with that metaphysical absurdity known as 'flesh and blood'. In fact 'flesh and blood' describes them very well: they resemble cuts of meat laid on the butcher's marble slab, dead creatures bleeding as though still alive, the sirloin steaks and cutlets of Fate. I'm not ashamed to feel this way because I know it's how everyone feels. The lack of respect between men, the indifference that allows them to kill others without compunction (as murderers do) or without thinking (as soldiers do), comes from the fact that no one pays due attention to the apparently abstruse idea that other people have souls too.”” [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 writer reflects on the difficulty of truly knowing other minds, feeling deeper connections to fictional characters than to real people, and observes societal indifference to others' souls. **In simple terms:** We often relate more to imagined beings than to actual people, overlooking their inner lives. Key Takeaway Recognize and respect the humanity in everyone. Themes existence empathy alienation perception societal indifference Mood reflective melancholic thoughtful Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - reading novels - watching theater - observing strangers - contemplating art - engaging in dialogue Key Concepts subjectivity otherness philosophical introspection literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance empathy for imagined characters with empathy for real people? - What practices can increase awareness of others' inner lives? A Different Perspective The claim that everyone feels this way is anecdotal and may not apply universally. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creature Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creature-feel-948101/) [Exist Souls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exist-souls-948102/) [Existentialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existentialism/) [Indifference Flesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indifference-flesh-948099/) [Lack of respect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lack-of-respect/) [People Souls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-souls-248223/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Real people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-people/) [Souls Consciousnesses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/souls-consciousnesses-948100/) ## Related quotes > [Limits exist only in the souls of those who do not dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippe-petit/limits-exist-only-in-the-souls-of-those-who-do-not-dream/) [Philippe Petit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippe-petit/) > [I'm very interested in theories in how we exist: how people exist and how souls exist separate from their bodies or their brains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angourie-rice/i-m-very-interested-in-theories-in-how-we-exist-how-people-exist-and/) [Angourie Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angourie-rice/) > [There is nothing capricious in nature and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/there-is-nothing-capricious-in-nature-and-the-implanting-of-a-desire/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“I could not see the unholy creature, but I could feel the bone-aching chill of its presence, and I heard the howl of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-lawhead/i-could-not-see-the-unholy-creature-but-i-could-feel-the-bone-aching/) [Stephen R. Lawhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-lawhead/) > [“No living creature should have to feel so exposed in death, washed up on the beach in mangled meat of bloody distortion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehreen-ahmed/no-living-creature-should-have-to-feel-so-exposed-in-death-washed-up/) [Mehreen Ahmed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehreen-ahmed/) > [As we tell stories about the lives of others, we learn how to imagine what another creature might feel in response to various events.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-c-nussbaum/as-we-tell-stories-about-the-lives-of-others-we-learn-how-to-imagine/) [Martha C. Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-c-nussbaum/) > [People’s souls are like gardens. You can’t turn your back on someone because his garden’s full of weeds. You have to give him water…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-farmer/people-s-souls-are-like-gardens-you-can-t-turn-your-back-on-someone/) [Nancy Farmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-farmer/) > [I want to be a member of the team that helps in any way possible for the evolution of people's souls. Because too much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-trent-d-arby/i-want-to-be-a-member-of-the-team-that-helps-in-any-way-possible-for/) [Terence Trent D'Arby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-trent-d-arby/) > [People have souls, and we all accept that cities have souls, too. It's why the locations are so important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naveen-andrews/people-have-souls-and-we-all-accept-that-cities-have-souls-too-it-s/) [Naveen Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naveen-andrews/) > [People souls - perennial loners. They're loners like stray stars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoni-lange/people-souls-perennial-loners-they-re-loners-like-stray-stars/) [Antoni Lange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoni-lange/) > [Invest in people. Souls are eternal. Count your blessings, and share with someone less fortunate. Be a blessing to someone today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hussein-nishah/invest-in-people-souls-are-eternal-count-your-blessings-and-share/) [Hussein Nishah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hussein-nishah/) > [Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to a new understanding with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ash-sweeney/some-people-come-into-our-lives-and-quickly-go-some-people-move-our/) [Ash Sweeney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ash-sweeney/) > [We designers have been working to stimulate people's souls and minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naoto-fukasawa/we-designers-have-been-working-to-stimulate-people-s-souls-and-minds/) [Naoto Fukasawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naoto-fukasawa/) > [“There pass the careless people That call their souls their own: Here by the road I loiter, How idle and alone. Ah, past the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/there-pass-the-careless-people-that-call-their-souls-their-own-here/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [Suffering did different things to different people...Some souls became tempered, unshakable in their faith, while others became twisted and mis-shapen, throwing off all connection…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-ragen/suffering-did-different-things-to-different-people-some-souls-became/) [Naomi Ragen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-ragen/) ## 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 Existentialism quotes > [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-ochs/even-though-you-can-t-expect-to-defeat-the-absurdity-of-the-world-you/) [Phil Ochs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-ochs/) > [The Only cure for nihilism is for liberal democratic societies - their electorates, their judiciary, and their political leadership- to insist that force is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/the-only-cure-for-nihilism-is-for-liberal-democratic-societies-their/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [If critics and fanboys weren't suckers for simplistic nihilism and high-pressure marketing, Afterlife would be universally acclaimed as a visionary feat, superior to Inception…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/armond-white/if-critics-and-fanboys-weren-t-suckers-for-simplistic-nihilism-and/) [Armond White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/armond-white/) > [“People may have to die, but morbidity will live forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mara-wilson/people-may-have-to-die-but-morbidity-will-live-forever/) [Mara Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mara-wilson/) > [“There are no greater or truer lords, gods, fathers, sons or holy spirits, than the humans. Humans are the highest beings on earth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/there-are-no-greater-or-truer-lords-gods-fathers-sons-or-holy-spirits/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“To seek out the upright. No fall but preceded by a declination. He took great marching steps into the nothingness, counting them against his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/to-seek-out-the-upright-no-fall-but-preceded-by-a-declination-he-took/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“An atheist is someone who is disappointed in his search of god. He is a man who strongly needed god but couldn't find him.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/an-atheist-is-someone-who-is-disappointed-in-his-search-of-god-he-is/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/what-are-we-doing-here-that-is-the-question-and-we-are-blessed-in/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“If we are unable to tolerate ourselves when we are alone, how can we expect anyone else to be enriched by our company? Before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-corey/if-we-are-unable-to-tolerate-ourselves-when-we-are-alone-how-can-we/) [Gerald Corey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-corey/) > [Desire is this absurdity that holds open the infinity of possibility. Ever optimistic, ever resourceful, desire tells us what it sees as it speeds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-farley/desire-is-this-absurdity-that-holds-open-the-infinity-of-possibility/) [Wendy Farley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-farley/) > [When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power to shock.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/when-it-comes-to-explaining-human-thought-and-behavior-the/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Life packed a clever one-two punch: cruelty and absurdity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/life-packed-a-clever-one-two-punch-cruelty-and-absurdity/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) [Browse all 984 Existentialism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existentialism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“One of my constant preoccupations is trying to understand how it is that other people exist, how it is that there are souls other than mine and consciousnesses not my own, which, because it is a consciousness, seems to me unique. I understand perfectly that the man before me uttering words similar to mine and making the same gestures I make, or could make, is in some way my fellow creature. However, I feel just the same about the people in illustrations I dream up, about the characters I see in novels or the dramatis personae on the stage who speak through the actors representing them. I suppose no one truly admits the existence of another person. One might concede that the other person is alive and feels and thinks like oneself, but there will always be an element of difference, a perceptible discrepancy, that one cannot quite put one's finger on. There are figures from times past, fantasy-images in books that seem more real to us than these specimens of indifference-made-flesh who speak to us across the counters of bars, or catch our eye in trams, or brush past us in the empty randomness of the streets. The others are just part of the landscape for us, usually the invisible landscape of the familiar. I feel closer ties and more intimate bonds with certain characters in books, with certain images I've seen in engravings, that with many supposedly real people, with that metaphysical absurdity known as 'flesh and blood'. In fact 'flesh and blood' describes them very well: they resemble cuts of meat laid on the butcher's marble slab, dead creatures bleeding as though still alive, the sirloin steaks and cutlets of Fate. I'm not ashamed to feel this way because I know it's how everyone feels. 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