a blind man being talked to about colors ...

“There are days in which the people I see, and especially those I’m with during our forced and daily cohabitation, take on the aspect of symbols, and either isolated or connected form a prophetic or occult script, which describes my life in shadows. The office becomes a page with people as words; the street is a book; the words substituted for the usual people, the different people I encounter; they are expressions for which I lack a dictionary but for which I do not entirely lack understanding. They speak, express themselves; however, they do not speak about themselves, nor do they express themselves to themselves; they are words, as I said, and they do not reveal anything but only allow a glimpse. But in my twilight vision I only vaguely distinguish what these sudden show windows, revealed on the surface of things, disclose of their interior, which they veil and reveal. I understand without knowing, like a blind man being talked to about colors.” (p. 35)

(Bernardo Soares / Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet. Trans. Alfred Mac Adam)