I am the size of what I see, not the size of my height.
Genuine
Yes. In The Keeper of Sheep (1925), O Guardador de Rebanhos, poem beginning “Da minha aldeia vejo quanto da terra”, first stanza, final two lines, said by Alberto Caeiro. These are the character’s words, not a statement in Pessoa’s own voice.
Found word for word by program in the Portuguese original.
The English is our own translation, not yet reviewed: there is no public-domain translation of this text in our sources.
The wording people share differs slightly from the text; the words in the text are underlined below.
- Work
- The Keeper of Sheep (O Guardador de Rebanhos), 1925
- Where
- O Guardador de Rebanhos, poem beginning “Da minha aldeia vejo quanto da terra”, first stanza, final two lines
- Found at
- Paragraph 28 of the Portuguese text
- Translation
- Our own, not yet reviewed (no public-domain translation in our sources)
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
Por isso a minha aldeia é tão grande como outra terra qualquer
Porque eu sou do tamanho do que vejo
E não, do tamanho da minha altura...1
Nas cidades a vida é mais pequena
Que aqui na minha casa no cimo deste outeiro.
For I am the size of what I see, and not the size of my height.
The scene
Alberto Caeiro says that from his village he can see as much of the earth as can be seen in the universe, making the village as large as any other place. The next stanza contrasts this open view from a hill with city buildings that conceal the horizon. For this pastoral persona, the wealth that matters is what the eyes can give.
What it means
A person’s scope is measured by the world they can perceive, rather than by their bodily dimensions or the size of their town.
Often misread
A general slogan about ambition or imagined possibilities loses the poem’s insistence on actual sight. This is Caeiro’s argument for an unobstructed sensory life, not merely encouragement to think bigger.
Topics
Related quotes
- Thinking is being sick in the eyes.
- The only hidden meaning of things is that they have no hidden meaning.
- ‘Men work together.’ I told him from the heart, ‘Whether they work together or apart.’ Robert Frost
- I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become. (misattributed) Carl Gustav Jung
- Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. Henry David Thoreau
Sources
Cite it
Fernando Pessoa, The Keeper of Sheep (1925), O Guardador de Rebanhos, poem beginning “Da minha aldeia vejo quanto da terra”, first stanza, final two lines, our own translation. Spoken by Alberto Caeiro. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/i-am-the-size-of-what-i-see/ (31 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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