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Luís de Camões Quotes (1524-1580)
Poet
About Luís de Camões
Luís Vaz de Camões (or de Camoens) (c. 1524 – June 10 1580) is considered the national poet of Portugal and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama, but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), the influence of which is so profound that Portuguese is sometimes called the "language of Camões".
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“Sonnet in full:”
“Tu só, tu, puro Amor...”
“Já no largo Oceano navegavam...”
“Da Lua os claros raios rutilavam...”
“É fraqueza entre ovelhas ser leão.”
“Esta é a ditosa pátria minha amada.”
“Um fraco Rei faz fraca a forte gente.”
“Com Amor a rosa,
Que tão fresca, &c.”
Que tão fresca, &c.”
“Numa mão sempre a espada, e noutra a pena.”
“Ó grandes e gravíssimos perigos!
Ó caminho de vida nunca certo!”
Ó caminho de vida nunca certo!”
“Mais servira, se não fora
Para tão longo amor tão curta a vida.”
Para tão longo amor tão curta a vida.”
“Erros meus, má fortuna, amor ardente
Em minha perdição se conjuraram.”
Em minha perdição se conjuraram.”
“Sabei que, segundo o amor tiverdes,
Tereis o entendimento de meus versos.”
Tereis o entendimento de meus versos.”
“Cantando espalharei por toda parte,
Se a tanto me ajudar o engenho e arte.”
Se a tanto me ajudar o engenho e arte.”
“Contra uma dama, ó peitos carniceiros,
Feros vos amostrais, e cavaleiros?”
Feros vos amostrais, e cavaleiros?”
“Cesse tudo o que a Musa antiga canta,
Que outro valor mais alto se alevanta.”
Que outro valor mais alto se alevanta.”
“Pera servir-vos, braço às armas feito,
Pera cantar-vos, mente às Musas dada.”
Pera cantar-vos, mente às Musas dada.”
“Nem no campo flores,
Nem no céu estrelas
Me parecem belas
Como os meus amores.”
Nem no céu estrelas
Me parecem belas
Como os meus amores.”
“[Ah o amor...] que nasce não sei onde,
Vem não sei como, e dói não sei porquê.”
Vem não sei como, e dói não sei porquê.”
“Ela viu as palavras magoadas,
Que puderam tornar o fogo frio,
E dar descanso as almas condenadas.”
Que puderam tornar o fogo frio,
E dar descanso as almas condenadas.”
“Porém, pera cantar de vosso gesto
A composição alta e milagrosa
Aqui falta saber, engenho e arte.”
A composição alta e milagrosa
Aqui falta saber, engenho e arte.”
“Eis aqui, quase cume da cabeça
De Europa toda, o Reino Lusitano,
Onde a terra se acaba e o mar começa.”
De Europa toda, o Reino Lusitano,
Onde a terra se acaba e o mar começa.”
“Porque é tamanha bem-aventurança
o dar-vos quanto tenho e quanto posso,
quanto mais vos pago, mais vos devo.”
o dar-vos quanto tenho e quanto posso,
quanto mais vos pago, mais vos devo.”
“As derradeiras palavras que na náu disse foram as de Scipião Africano: Ingrata patria, non possidebis ossa mea!”
“Fico que em todo o mundo de vós cante,
De sorte que Alexandro em vós se veja,
Sem à dita de Aquiles ter enveja.”
De sorte que Alexandro em vós se veja,
Sem à dita de Aquiles ter enveja.”
Luís de Camões Quotes by Topic
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Luís de Camões on Devotion
“...a caring that gains only when losing; an obsessed desire to be bound, for love, in jail; a capitulation to the one you've conquered yourself; a devotion to your own assassin every single day.”
Luís de Camões on Portuguese Empire
“Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon's shore, Through Seas where sail was never spread before, Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast, And waves her woods above the watery waste, With prowess more than human forced their way To the fair kingdoms of the rising day: What wars they waged, what seas, what dangers past, What glorious empire crowned their toils at last!”
Luís de Camões on Exile
“Here in this Babylon, that’s festering forth as much evil as the rest of the earth; Here where true Love deprecates his worth, as his powerful mother pollutes everything. Here where evil is refined and good is cursed, and tyranny, not honor, has its way; Here where the Monarchy, in disarray, blindly attempts to mislead God, and worse. Here in this labyrinth, where Royalty, willingly, chooses to succumb before the Gates of Greed and Infamy; Here in this murky chaos and delirium, I carry out my tragic destiny, but never will I forget you, Jerusalem!”
What Luís de Camões Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Luís de Camões shared regarding contemporaries.
Luís de Camões on Duarte Pacheco Pereira
“E canta como lá se embarcaria Em Belém o remédio deste dano, Sem saber o que em si ao mar traria, O grão Pacheco, Aquiles Lusitano. O peso sentirão, quando entraria, O curvo lenho e o férvido Oceano, Quando mais n' água os troncos que gemerem Contra sua natureza se meterem.”
Quotes About Luís de Camões
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Luís de Camões from others.
Here lies Luis de Camoens: on Luís de Camões
“Aqui jaz Luís de Camões Príncipe dos poetas do seu tempo; viveu pobre e miseravelmente e assi morreu.”
Aubrey F. G. Bell on Luís de Camões
“We look for something new in a literature unknown to us; we do not go to Lisbon to gaze into shop-windows which we can see in Paris. But the fact is that in Camões' lyrics we enter an enchanted country. They have a peculiar glow and magic which one seeks in vain elsewhere.”
Elizabeth Bishop on Luís de Camões
“I can read Camoes, etc., pretty well now, and he—his sonnets—are superb—as good as any in English, certainly.”
Friedrich Bouterwek on Luís de Camões
“His sonnets...are full of Petrarchic tenderness and grace, and moulded with classic correctness.”
Maurice Bowra on Luís de Camões 2 quotes
“He might well claim to be a Portuguese Virgil.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning on Luís de Camões 2 quotes
“And this morning, as I sat alone within the inner chamber With the great saloon beyond it, lost in pleasant thought serene— For I had been reading Camoëns—that poem you remember, Which his lady's eyes are praised in, as the sweetest ever seen.”
Richard Francis Burton on Luís de Camões 3 quotes
“The most pleasing literary labour of my life has been to translate "The Lusiads"...of my master, Camoens.”
Lord Byron on Luís de Camões
“He was in sooth a genuine bard; His was no faint, fictitious flame. Like his, may love be thy reward, But not thy hapless fate the same.”
About Luís de Camões
Luís Vaz de Camões (or de Camoens) (c. 1524 – June 10 1580) is considered the national poet of Portugal and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama, but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), the influence of which is so profound that Portuguese is sometimes called the "language of Camões".