We often confuse things of value with the value of things.

      It is said à propos of this that the revered painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was eating in a Parisian restaurant one day when he realized he did not have enough money to pay for his meal. So he drew a sketch on the tablecloth. He handed it to the restaurant owner, who said, “Put your signature on it, please.”

      Picasso replied, “Signature, no. I paid for dinner. I didn’t buy your restaurant.”

      Arrogance on Picasso’s part? No. Picasso, who knew how to put his talent to good use, accorded things their intrinsic value. He did not confuse cost with importance. Each thing has its value and significance. And this gives us a beautiful lesson about the inversion of priorities that often leads us to value the essential and irreplaceable over price, profit or material goods.

      “Language is a source of misunderstandings,” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in his The Little Prince.

      We Portuguese, noted for our gentle customs, tend not to be assertive in what we do and say, given the well-known Portuguese difficulty in expressing emotions, feelings and states of mind. To the question “How are you?” we invariably answer “So-so,” “I’ve been worse,” “Still kicking,” “Getting along,” “I leave it to God,” etc.

      My Brazilian friends, on the other hand, have no problem expressing their states of mind: “I’m happy” or “I’m very sad.”

      Let’s study two examples where ambition and self-confidence go hand-in-hand. When in other times he was considered one of the world’s greatest coaches, José Mourinho proclaimed himself “the special one.” And we have the case of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is also immodest about his success both on and off the pitch.

      In this regard there are two undeniable givens: on the one hand, the influence of the Catholic religion, which has imposed good and evil, sin and shame, and taught us to love our neighbor, help others, be compassionate, merciful and compassionate. We were forbidden to be selfish, so others, not us. have leverage. This is irrelevant, especially because we live in small societies that allow for greater knowledge and a closer connection between populations.

      On the other hand, we endured forty-eight years of the Estado Novo dictatorship, raised as we were to honor, trust and respect authority. We learned to be frank, hospitable, hardworking, strong and resolute.

      In terms of behavior, things have changed in these last fifty years of democratic life, although not too much… It’s just that our cultural values  remain very crystallized in the past. What is difficult is not adhering to new ideas; what is difficult is freeing ourselves from old ideas.

      Deep down we suffer from a terrible inferiority complex that is, as Fernando Pessoa wrote, a form of “mental provincialism.”

      This is why, whenever a Portuguese person asserting meritocracy comes out on top, there is always someone who is suspicious and wary. If only “envy” were not the final word of the epic poem The Lusiads…

Originally published as “Do valor das coisas” at:

https://graciosadigital.blogspot.com/2026/08/opiniao-victor-rui-dores-do-valor-das.html