Paulo Coelho

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Warriors of the light are
not perfect. Their
beauty lies in accepting
this fact and still
desiring to grow and to
learn.
The two worst strategic
mistakes to make are
acting prematurely and
letting an opportunity
slip; to avoid this, the
warrior treats each
situation as if it were
unique and never resorts
to formulae, recipes or
other people's opinions.
Paulo Coelho
From Wikiquote
Paulo Coelho (IPA: [pau lu ko eu]) (born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian poet and
writer.
Contents
1 Quotes
1.1 The Alchemist (1988)
1.2 The Valkyries (1992)
1.3 By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
1.4 The Manual of the Warrior of Light (1997)
1.5 Veronika Decides to Die (1998)
1.6 Eleven Minutes (2003)
1.7 The Zahir (2005)
1.8 The Witch of Portobello (2007)
1.9 Aleph (2011)
2 Twitter
3 Misattributed
4 External links
4.1 References
Quotes
When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have
sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair
are the tools God uses to show us the way.
Brida (1990)
The wise are wise only because they love.
As quoted in Elders on Love: Dialogues on the Consciousness,
Cultivation, and Expression of Love (1999) by Kenneth R. Lakritz
and Thomas M. Knoblauch
Unsourced variant: The wise are wise only because they love. The fools
are fools only because they think they can understand love.
When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at
such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are
not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to
If you come here, you
will find a hidden
treasure.
It's the simple things in
life that are the most
extraordinary; only wise
men are able to
understand them.
Whoever you are, or
whatever it is that you
do, when you really
want something, it's
because that desire
originated in the soul of
the universe...
decide whether or not to accept our destiny.
The Devil and Miss Prym [O Demnio e a srta Prym] (2000), p. x; this has also been misquoted as
"A moment is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny."
Terror, terror, terror. Life was a reign o terror in the shadow of the guillotine.
The Devil and Miss Prym [O Demnio e a srta Prym] (2000), p. 86
The two worst strategic mistakes to make are acting prematurely and
letting an opportunity slip; to avoid this, the warrior treats each
situation as if it were unique and never resorts to formulae, recipes or
other people's opinions.
As quoted in Quotes That Help You Survive (2006) by Harpreet Kaur
Kapoor
There is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them.
But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than
to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.
As quoted in Honor Your Gifts (2007) by Dona M. Deane, p. 199
You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.
As quoted in Publishing Tips : Weekly Strategies for the
Independent Writer (2008) by Linda A. Lavid, p. 57
A disciple asked Hejasi:
- I want to know what is the most funny thing about human beings.
Hejasi said:
- That they always think crooked: theyre in a hurry to grow, then lament their lost
childhood, and soon lose the money they need to keep their health.
"They are so anxious about the future, that they neglect the present, and thus live in
neither the present nor the future."
"They live as if they were never going to die, and die as if they had never lived."
That which is funny about man by Paulo Coelho, Paulo Coelho's
Blog August 27, 2008
[1]
The Alchemist (1988)
O Alquimista [Page numbers provided may vary slightly among different editions] ISBN 0-
06-112241-6
We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times
and to know the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we
may not understand how.
Introduction, p. xi
I ask myself: are defeats necessary?
When you want
something, all the
universe conspires in
helping you to achieve
it.
Well, necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for a dream, we have no experience and
make mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to
get up eight times.
Introduction, p. xi
If you come here, you will find a hidden treasure.
The child in the shepherd's dream, p. 14
I told you that your dream was a difficult one. It's the simple things in life
that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand
them.
This has sometimes been paraphrased: "The simple things are also the
most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them."
p. 15
At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us,
and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.
p. 18
There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you
really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.... The soul of
the world is nourished by people's happiness.
The Old King, p. 22
E quando voc quer alguma coisa, todo o Universo conspira para que voc realize seu desejo.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
p. 22; a variant of this has become attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Once you make a decision,
the universe conspires to make it happen" but no occurrence of this a statement has been located
prior to in The Gift of Depression : Twenty-one Inspirational Stories Sharing Experience,
Strength, and Hope (2001) by John F. Brown, p. 56
At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to
yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes a mysterious
force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny.
p. 22
Life attracts life.
The alchemist uses this expression at p. 23, but it is one that does not originate with Coelho, though
his work has popularized it.
As he mused about these things, he realised that he had to choose between thinking of himself as
the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure.
p. 44
He had worked for an entire year to make a dream come true, and that dream, minute by minute,
was becoming less important. Maybe cause that wasn't really his dream.
p. 65
Love is the force that
transforms and
improves the Soul of the
World. It is we who
nourish the Soul of the
World, and the world
we live in will be either
better or worse,
depending on whether
we become better or
worse.
No matter what he does,
every person on earth
plays a central role in
the history of the world.
And normally he doesn't
know it.
We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions
and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories
and the history of the world were written by the same hand.
p. 93
If I am really a part of your dream, you'll come back one day.
Fatima, p. 101; has also been quoted in slight variant: "If I am really part
of your dream, you will come back one day."
"If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer. "If
bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they
even occur."
p. 102
The desert takes our dreams away from us, and they don't always
return. We know that, and we are used to it. Those who don't return become
a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the
water that comes from the earth. They become part of everything... They
become the Soul of the World.
Fatima, p. 102
One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.
p. 128
Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering
itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams,
because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with
eternity.
p. 130
Don't think about what you've left behind, the alchemist said to the boy as
they began to ride across the sands of the desert. "Everything is written in
the Soul of the World, and there it will stay forever."
p. 130
If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. If what you had
found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find
nothing on your return.
p. 130
There is only one way to learn It's through action.
p. 131
It is said that the darkest hour of the night comes just before the dawn.
p. 132
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
What happens once will
never happen again. But
what happens twice will
surely happen a third
time.
The alchemist, p. 141
The wise men understood that this natural world is simply a guarantee that there
exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible
objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his
wisdom. That's what I mean by action.
p. 151
Wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure.
p. 128
Compare to the Bible, Luke 12:34 (For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.)(NIV translation)
It's true that everything has its Personal Legend, but one day that Personal
Legend will be realized. So each thing has to transform itself into something
better, and to acquire a new Personal Legend, until, someday, the Soul of the
World becomes one thing only.
p. 156
Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World. It is we who nourish the
Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become
better or worse. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to
become better than we are.
p. 157
No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And
normally he doesn't know it.
p. 158
Your money saved us for three days. It's not often that money saves a person's life.
p.167
Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will
surely happen a third time.
p. 184; this also has been quoted as "What happens once will never happen again. But what happens
twice will surely happen a third time."
The Valkyries (1992)
As Valkrias
The parents always insisted on telling their child that their secret friends didn't exist perhaps
because they had forgotten that they too had spoken to their angel at one time. Or, who knows,
perhaps they thought they lived in a world where there was no longer any place for angels. Disenchanted, the
angels had returned to God's side, knowing that they could no longer impose their presence.
p.132
Perhaps they needn't
even believe it was
enough that they needed
angels, and the angels
would return gladly.
We must never forget
that spiritual experience
is above all a practical
experience of love. And
with love, there are no
rules.
That moment exists a
moment when all the
power of the stars
becomes a part of us
and enables us to
perform miracles.
Perhaps they needn't even believe it was enough that they needed
angels, and the angels would return gladly.
p. 133
By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Na margem do rio Piedra eu sentei e chorei
We must never forget that spiritual experience is above all a practical
experience of love. And with love, there are no rules.
As translated by Alan R. Clarke (1996)
The gods throw the dice, and they don't ask whether we want to be in
the game or not. They don't care if when you go, you leave behind a lover, a
home, a career, or a dream. The gods don't care whether you have it all,
whether it seems that your every desire can be met through hard work and
persistence. The gods don't want to know about your plans and your hopes.
Somewhere they're throwing the dice and you are chosen. From then on,
winning or losing is only a question of luck.
The gods throw the dice, freeing love from its cage. And love can create or
destroy depending on the direction of the wind when it is set free.
Seek to live. Remembrance is for the old.
You have to take risks We will only understand the miracle of life
fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us
the sun and also one moment in which we have the ability to change
everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we
haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist that today is the same as
yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention
to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in
the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door
key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the
thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists
a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and
enables us to perform miracles.
Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks.
Lovers need to know how to lose themselves and then how to find
themselves again.
Love is much like a dam: if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a
trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole
structure, and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current. For
when those walls come down, then love takes over, and it no longer matters what is possible or impossible; it
doesn't even matter whether we can keep the loved one at our side. To love is to lose control.
The moment we begin
to seek love, love begins
to seek us.
And to save us.
There's nothing deeper than love. In fairy tales, the princesses kiss the frogs, and the frogs become princes.
In real life, the princesses kiss princes, and the princes turn into frogs.
Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move toward the unknown
even when we don't want to and when we think we don't need to.
Love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a
dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can
consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We
simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence. If we reject
it, we die of hunger, because we lack the courage to reach out a hand and
pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life. We have to take love where
we find it, even if it means hours, days, weeks of disappointment and sadness.
The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us.
And to save us.
If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way
possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him.
Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.
Even if loving meant leaving, or solitude, or sorrow, love was worth every penny of its price.
I am going to sit here with you by the river. If you go home to sleep, I will sleep in front of your house. And if
you go away, I will follow you until you tell me to go away. Then I'll leave. But I have to love you
for the rest of my life.
The Manual of the Warrior of Light (1997)
Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons. Every Warrior of the Light
has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light.
Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties.
Every Warrior of the Light has said "yes" when he wanted to say "no."
Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved.
That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of
being better than he is.
Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he
sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field.
Then, accepting the help of God and of God's signs, he allows his personal legend to guide him toward the
tasks that life has reserved for him.
On some nights, he has nowhere to sleep, on others he suffers from insomnia. "That's just how it is," thinks
the warrior. "I was the one who chose to walk this path."
In these words lies all his power: He chose the path along which he is walking and so has no
complaints.
Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to
grow and to learn.
He identifies with the
mountains and the
streams, he sees
something of his own
soul in the plants and the
animals and the birds of
the field.
Then, accepting the help
of God and of God's
signs, he allows his
personal legend to guide
him toward the tasks
that life has reserved for
him.
You are someone who is
different, but who
wants to be the same as
everyone else. And that
in my view is a serious
illness. God chose you
to be different. Why are
you disappointing God
with this kind of
attitude?
A warrior of the light never confuses tension with anxiety.
Veronika Decides to Die (1998)
Veronika decide morrer
On 11 November 1997, Veronika decided that the moment to kill herself had
at last! arrived.
She believed herself to be completely normal. Two very simple reasons lay
behind her decision to die, and she was sure that, were she to leave a note
explaining, many people would agree with her.
The first reason: everything in her life was the same and, once her youth was
gone, it would be downhill all the way, with old age beginning to leave
irreversible marks, the onset of illness, the departure of friends. She would gain
nothing by continuing to live; indeed, the likelihood of suffering only increased.
The second reason was more philosophical: Veronika read the newspapers,
watched TV, and she was aware of what was going on in the world. Everything
was wrong, and she had no way of putting things right that gave her a sense
of complete powerlessness.
When she opened her eyes, Veronika did not think "this must be heaven".
Heaven would never use a fluorescent tube to light a room, and the pain
which started a fraction of a second later was typical of the Earth. Ah, that
Earth pain unique, unmistakable.
I'll tell everyone that the children are my reason for living, when in reality my life
is their reason for living.
Veronika brought her interior monologue to a close and made a promise to
herself: she would not leave Villete alive. It was best to put an end to everything
now, while she was still brave and healthy enough to die.
Look me in the eye and never forget what I'm about to tell you. There are only
two prohibitions, one according to man's law, the other according to God's.
Never force a sexual relationship on anyone, because that is considered to be
rape. And never have sexual relations with children, because that is the worst
of all sins. Apart from that, you're free. There's always someone who wants
exactly what you want.
Mari to Veronika
The great problem with poisoning by Bitterness was that the passions
hatred, love, despair, enthusiasm, curiosity also ceased to
manifest themselves. After a while, the embittered person felt no desire at
all. They lacked the will either to live or to die, that was the problem.
You are someone who is different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that in my
I can choose either to
be a victim of the
world or an
adventurer in search
of treasure. It's all a
question of how I
view my life.
No one loses anyone,
because no one owns
anyone. That is the true
experience of freedom:
having the most
important thing in the
world without owning
it.
view is a serious illness. God chose you to be different. Why are you disappointing God with this
kind of attitude?
You have two choices: to control your mind or to let your mind control you.
Eleven Minutes (2003)
When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole
universe is on our side. And yet if something goes wrong, there is nothing
left! How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish
so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from heaven to hell in a matter
of seconds.
p. 9
My aim is to understand love. I know how alive I felt when I was in love, and I
know that everything I have now, however interesting it might seem, doesn't really
excited me.
But love is a terrible thing: I've seen my girlfriends suffer and I don't want the same
thing to happen to me. ... Although my aim is to understand love, and although I
suffer to think of people to whom I gave my heart, I see that those who touched
my heart failed to arouse my body, and that those who aroused my body failed to
touch my heart.
Maria's diary entry at the age of 17, p. 16
I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search
of treasure. It's all a question of how I view my life.
p. 37
Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its
most brilliant.
p. 50
In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for
our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel. It hurt
when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am
convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is
the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the
world without owning it.
p. 97
Anyone who is in love is making love the whole time, even when they're
not. When two bodies meet, it is just the cup overflowing. They can stay
together for hours, even days. They begin the dance one day and finish it the
next, or such is the pleasure they experience they may never finish it. No
eleven minutes for them.
p. 164
In my world, everything
is possible and
everything is relative
I was once more in a
time which the things
around me were
changing and that is
how I wanted it to be
for the rest of my days.
The Zahir (2005)
I learned something recently: our true friends are those who are with us
when the good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our
triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive
faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable
lives...
p. 65
You want to know if the heart of a man or a woman can contain enough love
for more than one person? I think it's perfectly possible as long as one of
those people doesnt turn into a Zahir.
p. 128
In my world, everything is possible and everything is relative.
p. 167
Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if
that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate
experiences, memories, things, other people's ideas, and it is more than
they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams.
p. 205
Stop being who you were and become who you are.
p. 215
A brush with death always helps us to live our lives better.
p. 220
Thats the problem, we do get used to things.
p. 226
That is how I would have acted before my accident, but now my personal history had become unimportant.
It had stopped being history and was once more becoming a legend, a search, an adventure, a journey into
and away from myself. I was once more in a time which the things around me were changing and that
is how I wanted it to be for the rest of my days.
p. 272
The Witch of Portobello (2007)
Athena's great problem was that she was a woman of the twenty-second century living in the twenty-first,
and making no secret of the fact, either. Did she pay a price? She certainly did. But she would have paid a
still higher price if she had repressed her natural exuberance. She would have been bitter, frustrated, always
concerned about "what other people might think," always saying, "I'll just sort these things out, then I'll
devote myself to my dream," always complaining "that the conditions are never quite right."
Laugh at your worries
and insecurities. View
your anxieties with
humor. It will be
difficult at first, but
you'll gradually get used
to it.
Love simply is. ... Love
and don't ask too many
questions. Just love.
Deidre O'Neill, known as Edda, p. 11
All my life I've learned to suffer in silence.
p. 41
What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but
someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what
she already knows.
p. 78
You are what you believe yourself to be.
Don't be like those people who believe in "positive thinking" and tell themselves
that they're loved and strong and capable. You don't need to do that because
you know it already. And when you doubt it which happens, I think, quite
often at this stage of evolution do as I suggested. Instead of trying to prove
that you're better than you think, just laugh. Laugh at your worries and
insecurities. View your anxieties with humor. It will be difficult at first,
but you'll gradually get used to it. Now go back and meet all those people
who think you know everything. Convince yourself that they're right, because
we all know everything, it's merely a question of believing.
Believe.
p. 152
Love simply is. That is the testament of Athena or Sherine or Hagia Sofia
love is. No definitions. Love and don't ask too many questions. Just love.
p. 258
Aleph (2011)
You feel that nothing you have learned has put down roots, that while youre capable of entering the magical
universe, you cannot remain submerged in it. You feel that all of this may be nothing but a fantasy dreamed
up by people to fend off their fear of death.
I have only one certainty: there exists a parallel spiritual universe that impinges on the world in which we live.
Apart from that, everything else seems absurd to mesacred books, revelations, guides, manuals,
ceremonies and, what is worse, they appear to have no lasting effects.
Thats because, like everyone else on the planet, you believed that time would teach you to grow closer to
God. But time doesnt teach; it merely brings us a sense of weariness and of growing older.
In magicand in lifethere is only the present moment, the now. You cant measure time the way you
measure the distance between two points. Time doesnt pass. We human beings have enormous difficulty
in focusing on the present; were always thinking about what we did, about how we could have done it
better, about the consequences of our actions, and about why we didnt act as we should have. Or else we
think about the future, about what were going to do tomorrow, what precautions we should take, what
dangers await us around the next corner, how to avoid what we dont want and how to get what we have
always dreamed of.
Past and future exist only in our memory. The present moment, though, is outside of time, its Eternity. In
India, they use the word karma, for lack of any better term.
It isnt what you did in the past that will affect the present. Its what you do in the present that will redeem the past
and thereby change the future.
You think that you exist because youre unhappy. Other people exist merely as a function of their problems
and spend all their time talking compulsively about their children, their wives and husbands, school, work,
friends. They never stop to think: Im here. I am the result of everything that happened and will happen, but
Im here. If I did something wrong, I can put it right or at least ask forgiveness. If I did something right, that
leaves me happier and more connected with the now.
you discover that your old I, along with everything you ever learned, is absolutely no use at all in the face of
those new challenges, and you begin to realize that buried deep in your unconscious mind there is someone
much more interesting and adventurous and more open to the world and to new experiences.
Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death. The landscape changes, the people change, our needs
change, but the train keeps moving. Life is the train, not the station. And what youre doing now isnt
traveling, its just changing countries, which is completely different
Understand what is going on inside you and you will understand what is going on inside everyone else
Whenever I refused to follow my fate, something very hard to bear would happen in my life.
Tragedy always brings about radical change in our lives, a change that is associated with the same principle: loss.
When faced by any loss, theres no point in trying to recover what has been; its best to take advantage of the large
space that opens up before us and fill it with something new.
What did I do to deserve this?
Lord, preserve me from tragedy and I will follow your desires.
Here I am, trying to persuade myself that I always give the best of myself, and nature is telling me exactly the
opposite: anyone truly committed to life never stops walking.
Hell is when we look back during that fraction of a second and know that we wasted an opportunity
to dignify the miracle of life. Paradise is being able to say at that moment: I made some mistakes,
but I wasnt a coward. I lived my life and did what I had to do.
However, theres no need to anticipate my particular hell and keep going over and over the fact that I can make no
further progress in what I understand to be my Spiritual Quest. Its enough that I keep trying. Even those who
didnt do all they could have done have already been forgiven; they had their punishment while they were alive by
being unhappy when they could have been living in peace and harmony. We are all redeemed and free to follow the
path that has no beginning and will have no end.
Routine has nothing to do with repetition. To become really good at anything, you have to practice and
repeat, practice and repeat, until the technique becomes intuitive.
What cant be cured must be endured.
Every note leaves in each of us a memory, but it is the melody as a whole that tells a story, the story of
someone wanting to get closer to another person and who keeps on trying, despite repeated rejections.
I cant tell someone that their dreams are impossible.
If I were to persuade just one person to stop fighting for something they were convinced was worthwhile, I
would end up persuading myself, and my whole life would be diminished.
So, in my relationships with men, Ive always sought suffering, conflict, and despair.
Dont let yourself be destroyed by a force that was placed in our hearts in order to make everything better.
The light of love flows out of my soul, but it can go nowhere because its blocked by pain. I could inhale and
exhale every morning for the rest of my life, but that wouldnt solve anything.
What hurts us is what heals us
Life has been very hard on me, but, at the same time, it has taught me a great deal.
To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life.
What we aim to do is calm the spirit and get in touch with the source from which everything comes, removing
any trace of malice or egotism. If you spend too much time trying to find out what is good or bad about
someone else, youll forget your own soul and end up exhausted and defeated by the energy you have
wasted in judging others.
Lao-tzus words, was: place all your feelings outside of yourself and you will be renewed.
I dont believe in God as you imagine Him to be, but I believe in many things that you could never even
dream of.
I think to myself that this really isnt something I should concern myself with.
No one can learn to love by following a manual, and no one can learn to write by following a course. Im
not telling you to seek out other writers but to find people with different skills from yourself, because writing
is no different from any other activity done with joy and enthusiasm.
If I had to give you one piece of advice, it would be this: dont be intimidated by other peoples opinions
Only mediocrity is sure of itself, so take risks, and do what you really want to do.
Seek out people who arent afraid of making mistakes and who, therefore, do make mistakes. Because
of that, their work often isnt recognized, but they are precisely the kind of people who change the world
and, after many mistakes, do something that will transform their own community completely.
If someone is giving us something, thats because were incapable of getting it for ourselves.
Love is the only thing that will save us, independent of any mistakes we may make. Love is always
stronger.
Time neither moves nor is stationary. Time changes.
We learn in the past, but we are not the result of that. We suffered in the past, loved in the past, cried and
laughed in the past, but thats of no use to the present. The present has its challenges, its good and bad side.
We can neither blame nor be grateful to the past for what is happening now. Each new experience of love
has nothing whatsoever to do with past experiences. Its always new.
People arent used to that way of thinking. They want everything to stay the same
and the consequence of that is pain,
We are not the person other people wish we were. We are who we decide to be.
Its always easy to blame others. You can spend your entire life blaming the world, but your successes or
failures are entirely your own responsibility. You can try to stop time, but its a complete waste of energy.
If you rely only on experience, youll simply keep applying old solutions to new problems. I know a
lot of people who feel they have an identity only when theyre talking about their problems. That way, they
exist, because their problems are linked to what they judge to be their history.
It takes a huge effort to free yourself from memory, but when you succeed, you start to realize that youre
capable of far more than you imagined. You live in this vast body called the Universe, which contains all the
solutions and all the problems. Visit your soul; dont visit your past. The Universe goes through many
mutations and carries the past with it. We call each of those mutations a life, but just as the cells in your
body change and yet you remain the same, so time does not pass, it merely changes.
Never. We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us; they dont disappear from our lives.
We are merely in different rooms. For example, I cant see who is in the next carriage, but it
contains people traveling in the same time as me, as you, as everyone. The fact that we cant
speak to them or know whats going on in that other carriage is completely irrelevant. They are
there. So what we call life is a train with many carriages. Sometimes were in one, sometimes
were in another, and sometimes we cross between them, when we dream or allow ourselves to be
swept away by the extraordinary.
Love always triumphs over what we call death. Thats why theres no need to grieve for our loved
ones, because they continue to be loved and remain by our side.
Life is one long training session in preparation for what will come. Life and death lose their meaning;
there are only challenges to be met with joy and overcome with tranquility.
First develop a strategy that utilizes everything around you. The best way to prepare for a challenge is to
cultivate the ability to call on an infinite variety of responses.
I forgive the tears I was made to shed,
I forgive the pain and the disappointments, I forgive the betrayals and the lies, I forgive the slanders and intrigues, I
forgive the hatred and the persecution, I forgive the blows that hurt me, I forgive the wrecked dreams, I forgive the
stillborn hopes, I forgive the hostility and jealousy, I forgive the indifference and ill will, I forgive the injustice carried
out in the name of justice, I forgive the anger and the cruelty, I forgive the neglect and the contempt, I forgive the
world and all its evils. I will be capable of loving, regardless of whether I am loved in return,
Of giving, even when I have nothing,
Of working happily, even in the midst of difficulties, Of holding out my hand, even when utterly alone and
abandoned, Of drying my tears, even while I weep, Of believing, even when no one believes in me.
The world is divided into those who understand me and those who dont. In the case of the latter, I
simply leave them to torment themselves trying to gain my sympathy.
I love you like a river that creates the right conditions for trees and bushes and flowers to flourish along its
banks. I love you like a river that gives water to the thirsty and takes people where they want to go.
I love you like a river that understands that it must learn to flow differently over waterfalls and to rest in the
shallows. I love you because we are all born in the same place, at the same source, which keeps us provided with a
constant supply of water. And so, when we feel weak, all we have to do is wait a little. The spring returns, and the
winter snows melt and fill us with new energy.
I love you like a river that begins as a solitary trickle in the mountains and gradually grows and joins other rivers
until, after a certain point, it can flow around any obstacle in order to get where it wants.
I receive your love, and I give you mine. Not the love of a man for a woman, not the love of a father for a child,
not the love of God for his creatures, but a love with no name and no explanation, like a river that cannot explain
why it follows a particular course but simply flows onward. A love that asks for nothing and gives nothing in return;
it is simply there. I will never be yours, and you will never be mine; nevertheless, I can honestly say: I love you, I
love you, I love you.
I am not a foreigner, because I havent been praying to return safely home. I havent wasted my time
imagining my house, my desk, my side of the bed. I am not a foreigner, because we are all traveling, we are
all full of the same questions, the same tiredness, the same fears, the same selfishness, and the same
generosity. I am not a foreigner, because, when I asked, I received.
When I knocked, the door opened. When I looked, I found.
Life is a dream from which we wake only when we meet death.Italic text
Twitter
The weak are wicked. Goodness can only be expected from the strong.
[2]
Misattributed
God is where you let Him in.
This expression originates with a statement of Kotzker Rebbe, who, when he was five years old
asked his father "Where is God?" to which his father answered: "God is everywhere!" Rebbe then
responded "No, I think God is only where you let Him in." As quoted in Innerspace :
Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation and Prophecy (1990), by Aryeh Kaplan, p. 160
May love be your guide in every moment of your life.
Though widely attributed to Coelho on the internet, and originally added here within the section for
The Alchemist, this specific form has not been located in any editions available in online searches.
The directive "Let love be your guide" is a very old one, and did not originate with Coelho.
External links
Official website (http://www.paulocoelho.com.br/)
Official UK website (http://www.paulocoelho.co.uk/)
Official blog (http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com/)
References
1. That which is funny about man by Paulo Coelho, Paulo Coelho's Blog August 27, 2008
(http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2008/08/27/that-which-is-funny-about-man/)
2. https://twitter.com/paulocoelho July 15 2013
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