A century later, it seems almost a crime the insistent recommendations of the lady Maria Madalena to her irresponsible son, asking him to find a job and devote the bulk of his days to working for his own sustenance. There is the very prudent common sense in perspective! And we are left wondering what would become of Fernando Pessoa if he yielded to his mother’s prudence and acted like a normal person. It is true, it is true: Pessoa sank because of extraordinary stupidity; and he had to pay for it. But how? How to force such a man to waste himself in trivialities? Such a man always asserts himself the moment he contradicts that which is convenient for him, the moment he completely distances himself from that which is expected of him. It is preferable to live as a deadbeat, or rather, it is preferable to die than to destroy his genius by conforming to normality.