Quotes from Paulo Coelho

We become imprisoned by our memories, and that makes our lives wretched.

of all the weapons of destruction that man could invent, the most terrible-and the most powerful-was the word. Daggers and spears left traces of blood; arrows could be seen at a distance. Poisons were detected in the end and avoided. But the word managed to destroy without leaving clues.

It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over. Slowly, I began to realize that I could not go back and force things to be as they once were: those two years, which up until then had seemed an endless inferno, were now beginning to show me their true meaning.

Hide your craziness behind a beautiful smile. That's all you need.

That's what the world is like: people talk as if they knew everything, but ifyou dare to ask a question, they don't know anything.

What does learning mean: accumulating knowledge or transforming your life?

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 doesn't matter what others think -because that's what they will think, in any case.

The roller-coaster is my life; life is a fast, dizzying game; life is a parachute jump; it's taking chances, falling over and getting up again; it's mountaineering; it's wanting to get to the very top of yourself and feeling angry and dissatisfied when you don't manage it

Does a leaf, when it falls from the tree in winter, feel defeated by the cold? The tree says to the leaf: That's the cycle of life. You may think you're going to die, but you live on in me. It's thanks to you that I'm alive, because I can breathe. It's also thanks to you that I have felt loved, because I was able to give shade to the weary traveller. Your sap is in my sap; we are one thing.

Well, then, why should I listen to my heart? Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet.

Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue following their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist. "Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer. From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him. He asked that, when he wandered far from his dreams, his heart press him and sound the alarm. The boy swore that, every time he heard the alarm, he would heed its message.

The most important experiences a man can have are those that take him to the very limit; that is the only way we learn, because it requires all our courage.

God, I am trying to recover my faith. Please don't abandon me in the middle of this adventure, I prayed, pushing my fears aside.

I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things.

By the River Piedra I sat down and wept. There is a legend that everything that falls into the waters of this river -- leaves, insects, the feathers of birds -- is transformed into the rocks that make the riverbed. If only I could tear out my heart and hurl it into the current, then my pain and longing would be over, and I could finally forget.

He's seeing my soul, my fears, my fragility, my inability to deal with a world which i pretend to master, but about which I know nothing

The eyes are the mirror of the soul and reflect everything that seems to be hidden; and like a mirror, they also reflect the person looking into them.

if a book isn't self-explanatory, then it isn't worth reading.

About the nature of human beings. I discovered that confronted by temptation, we will always fall. Given the right circumstances, every human being on this earth would be willing to commit evil.

Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World and it will one day return there.

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

And the person who loves wholeheartedly feels free.

Love can only be found through the act of loving.

Make whatever decision you wish but never forget one thing: all of you are much better than you believed. Take advantage of the chance that tragedy has given you; not everyone is capable of doing so