Quotes from Paulo Coelho

People always judge others by taking as a model their own limitations, and other people's opinions are often full of prejudice and fear. Join with all those who experiment, take risks, fall, get hurt and then take more risks. Stay away from those who affirm truths, who criticise those who do not think like them, people who have never once taken a step unless they were sure they would be respected for doing so, and who prefer certainties to doubts.

Over-anxiety ultimately banishes every trace of joy from life.

As so often in life, things are not always what it seems.

Feeling that the simplest of tasks requires a Herculean effort. Being riddled with guilt because you have no reason to feel like this when there are so many people in the world who are really suffering.

Don't expect to get anything back, don't expect recognition for your efforts, don't expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. Act because you need to act

The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader.

It's always necessary to know when a stage of one's life has ended. If you stubbornly cling to it after the need has passed,you lose the joy and meaning of the rest. And you risk being shaken to your senses by God.

The enemy is not the person standing before you, sword in hand. It is the person standing next to you with a dagger concealed behind his back.

La vida es un juego fuerte y alucinante, la vida es lanzarse en paracaídas, es arriesgarse, caer y volver a levantarse, es alpinismo, es querer subir a lo alto de uno mismo, y sentirse insatisfecho y angustiado cuando no se consigue.

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.

The art of love is like your painting, it requires technique, patience, and above all, practice by the couple. It requires boldness, the courage to go beyond what people conventionally call making love.

I saw that she didn't want to answer that question and so I asked again: when mouths close it's because there's something important to be said.

if a lie is repeated often enough, it ends up convincing everyone

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing what to do is the worst kind of suffering.

The happiness of one does not mean the unhappiness of the others.

What is a Gift? A Gift is your way of serving the world.

Go in search of your Gift. The process of finding ourselves is called Love. The more you understand yourself, the more you will understand the world.

Je t'aime parce que tout l'Univers a conspiré à me faire arriver jusqu'à toi.

signs are an extremely personal language that we develop throughout our lives, by trial and error, until we begin to understand that God is guiding us.

Love is the force that brings us back together, in order to condense the experience dispersed in many lives and many parts of the world.

The brave are those who make decisions despite their fear, who are tormented by the Devil every step of the way and gripped by anxiety about their every action, wondering if they are right or wrong. And yet nevertheless, they act.

when fate is very generous with us, there is always a well into which all our dreams can tumble.

Man needs to choose, not just accept his destiny.

There is only one difference between teacher and disciple: the former is slightly less afraid than the latter." ~Deidre O'Neill, known as Edde (p. 213)