Quotes by Paulo Coelho

So long as you do no harm to another, change your opinion once in a while. Contradict yourself without being embarrassed. This is your right. It doesnt matter what others think -because thats what they will think, in any case.

One day you will wake up & there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.

We have been moving along at such a fast pace that we no longer know what we are doing. Now we have to wait until our soul catches up with us.

The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess at the future? Based on the omens of the present. The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live ach day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.

Negative desires can cause no evil if you do not allow yourself to be seduced by them.

You dont seem mad at all, she said.But I am, although Im undergoing a cure, because my problem is that I lack a particular chemical. However, while I hope that the chemical gets rid of my chronic depression, I want to continue being mad, living life the way I dream it, and not the way other people want it to be. Do you know what exists out there, beyond the walls of Villete?

i dont regret the difficulties I experienced; I think they help helped me to become the person I am today. i feel the way a warrior must feel after years of traning; he doesnt remember the details of everything he learned, but he knows how to strike when the time is right

Isnt wine prohibited here? the boy asked. Its not what enters mens mouths thats evil, said the alchemist. Its what comes out of their mouths that is.

Once someone asked me, What do you want to be your epitaph? So I said, Paulo Coelho died when he was alive.

But love is much like a dam: if you allow a tiny crack to form through whichonly 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 doesnt even matter whether we can keep the loved one at our side. To love is to lose control.

We are always trying to convert people to a belief in our own explanation of the universe. We think that the more people there are who believe as we do, the more certain it will be that what we believe is the truth. But it doesnt work that way at all.

The day drags along, you make thousands of plans, you imagine every possible conversation, you promise to change your behavior in certain ways–and you feel more and more anxious until your loved one arrives. But by then, you dont know what to say. The hours of waiting have been transformed into tension, the tension has become fear, and the fear makes you embarrassed about showing affection.

A divided kingdom cannot defend itself from its adversaries. A divided person cannot face life in a dignified way.

Even God has a hell: his love of Mankind.

God is the same, even though He has a thousand names; it is up to us to select a name for Him.

God hides the fires of hell within paradise.

God, I am trying to recover my faith. Please dont abandon me in the middle ofthis adventure, I prayed, pushing my fears aside.

A person who goes in search of God is wasting his time. He can walk a thousand roads and join many religions and sects–but hell never find God that way. God is here, right now, at our side. We can see Him in this mist, in the ground were walking on, even in my shoes. His angels keep watch while we sleep and help us in our work. In order to find God, you have only to look around. But meeting Him is not easy. The more God asks us to participate in Hismysteries, the more disoriented we become, because He asks us constantly tofollow our dreams and our hearts. And thats difficult to do when were used to living in a different way. Finally we discover, to our surprise, that God wants us to be happy, because He is the father.

It wasnt necessary to know your own demons in order to find God.

the grandeur of God reveals itself through simple things