Superb Sentences: Lima Barreto

A series of beautiful phrases, sentences, and excerpts from Brazilian literature leading up to Brazil’s National Day of the Book on October 29.

From Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma (published in translation both as the literal version of its title - “Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma” - and as “The Patriot”), published serially in the “Jornal do Comércio do Rio de Janeiro” (“Rio de Janeiro Business Newspaper”) in 1911 and as a book in 1915: “Defendo o que eu gosto e quem eu gosto até o fim, mesmo que para isso eu fique em pedaços. A vida pode te deixar em pedaços, mas o amor te deixará inteiro.”

I defend what I like and who I like until the end,
even if to do that I end up in pieces.
Life can tear you to pieces, but love will make you whole.

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A worm by any other name…

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“Ovelha Negra” by Rita Lee (1975)