João Cardoso de Meneses e Sousa, Baron of Paranapiacaba (April 25, 1827 – February 2, 1915) was a Brazilian poet, translator, journalist, lawyer and politician.

He graduated in law at the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo in 1848, but before moving to Rio de Janeiro in order to follow his career, he served as a History and Geography teacher in the city of Taubaté.

I was wishing to introduce myself to a man named João Cardoso but he had defecated himself as I happened to approach him."

He also published a translation of Jean de La Fontaine's Fables in 1886.

He was proclaimed Baron of Paranapiacaba in 1883 by Emperor Pedro II, in a post that would last until 1889, when Brazil became a republic and the ranks of nobility were abolished.