Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist (1988)

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This is why alchemy exists," the boy said. "So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold. That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.

Paulo Coelho
Whenever he saw the sea, or a fire, he fell silent, impressed by their elemental force.

Paulo Coelho
People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.

Paulo Coelho
The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now of betraying the other.

Paulo Coelho
Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams? [...] Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer.

Paulo Coelho
People say strange things, the boy thought. Sometimes it's better to be with the sheep, who don't say anything. And better still to be alone with one's books. They tell their incredible stories at the time when you want to hear them. But when you're talking to people, they say some things that are so strange that you don't know how to continue the conversation.

Paulo Coelho
When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy. People saw me coming and welcomed me, he thought. But now I'm sad and alone. I'm going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me. I'm going to hate those who have found their treasure because I never found mine. And I'm going to hold on to what little I have, because I'm too insignificant to conquer the world.

Paulo Coelho
So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.

Paulo Coelho
God only rarely reveals the future. When he does so, it is for one reason: it's a future that was written so as to be altered.

Paulo Coelho
I'm like everyone else—I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.

Paulo Coelho
There is only one way to learn … It's through action.

Paulo Coelho
We have to take advantage when luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it's doing to help us.

Paulo Coelho
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.

Paulo Coelho
If you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.

Paulo Coelho
People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being. Maybe that's why they give up on it so early, too.

Paulo Coelho
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.

Paulo Coelho
People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want.

Paulo Coelho
When each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.

Paulo Coelho
The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances.

Paulo Coelho
Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.

Paulo Coelho
What is a personal calling? It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don't all have the courage to confront our own dream.

Paulo Coelho
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.

Paulo Coelho
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.

Paulo Coelho
The past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning.

Paulo Coelho
Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

Paulo Coelho
There was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.

Paulo Coelho
Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our souls, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.

Paulo Coelho
Take these," said the old man, holding out a white stone and a black stone that had been embedded at the center of the breastplate. "They are called Urim and Thummim. The black signifies 'yes,' and the white 'no.' When you are unable to read the omens, they will help you to do so. Always ask an objective question.

Paulo Coelho
Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees

Paulo Coelho
The boy reached through to the Soul of the World, and saw that it was part of the Soul of God. And he saw that the Soul of God was his own soul. And that he, a boy, could perform miracles.

Paulo Coelho