Quotes by Paulo Coelho

But human beings are like that, she thought. Weve replaced nearly all our emotions with fear.

The only thing she could do now was to shed a few tears, feeling rather afraid of herself, an intelligent young woman, who had everything going for her, but who tended to make the wrong decisions. She just hoped that this time she was right.

But when he thought to complain about the burden of its weight, he remembered that, because he had the jacket, he had withstood the cold of the dawn.We have to be prepared for change, he thought, and he was grateful for the jackets weight and warmth.The jacket had a purpose, and so did the boy.

Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you´ll find your treasure

...and that, in the end, the most interesting people always leave.

In a war, the first casualty is human dignity.

I will lament your departure. I will hide my shame for having erred on some obscure point, for thinking that the justice of war is the same of peacetime.

We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body.

She had just realized there were two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, when you least expected it. For at that moment, all our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a road heading who knows where, the fear of a life full of new challenges, the fear of losing forever everything that is familiar.

You came so that you could learn about your dreams, said the old woman. And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand.

Its what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is. 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... Its a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny. It prepares your spirit and you will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, its because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. Its your mission on earth.

We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body. Many times in our lives we see our dreams shattered and our desires frustrated, but we have to continue dreaming. If we dont, our soul dies, and agape cannot reach it.

Because when everyone dreams, but only a few realize their dreams, that makes cowards of us all.

He could always go back to be a shepherd, but he had a dream. Thats doesnt happen to just anyone.

Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where youll find your treasure.”“But my heart is agitated,” the boy said. “It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and its become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when Im thinking about her.”“Well, thats good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.” . . .“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. “it doesnt want me to go on.”“That makes sense,” the alchemist answered. “Naturally its afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything youve won.”“Well then, why should I listen to my heart?”“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what youre thinking about life and about the world.”“You mean I should listen, even if its treasonous?”“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because youll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.”“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So its better to listen to what it has to say. That way, youll never have to fear an unexpected blow.

What are you good at? asked the owner.Going after what I believe in. That was the only possible reply; she had spent her life in pursuit of what she believed in. The only problem was that she believed in something different everyday.

Now that she had nothing to lose, she was free.

Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.

Hatred. Something almost as physical as walls, pianos, or nurses. She could almost touch the destructive energy leaking out of her body. She allowed the feeling to emerge, regardless of whether it was good or bad; she was sick of self-control, of masks, of appropriate behavior. Veronika wanted to spend her remaining two or three days of life behaving as inappropriately as she could.

Your answer is the logical, coherent answer an absolutely normal person would give: Its a tie! A lunatic, however, would say that what I have around my neck is a ridiculous, useless bit of colored cloth tied in a very complicated way, which makes it harder to get air into your lungs and difficult to turn your neck. I have to be careful when Im anywhere near a fan, or I could be strangled by this bit of cloth.If a lunatic were to ask me what this tie is for, I would have to say, absolutely nothing. Its not even purely decorative, since nowadays its become a symbol of slavery, power, aloofness. The only really useful function a tie serves is the sense of relief when you get home and take it off; you feel as if youve freed yourself from something, though quite what you dont know.