Quotes from Paulo Coelho

We must struggle for our dreams, but when certain paths prove impossible, it would be best to save our energies in order to travel other roads.

You don't have to climb a mountain to find out whether or not it's high.

Use your bad moments to discover what makes you tremble. Use your good moments to find your road to inner peace. But do not stop either out of fear or joy: the way of the bow has no end.

After a certain age, we put on a mask of confidence and certainty. In time, that mask gets stuck to our face and we can't remove it. As children, we learn that if we cry we'll receive affection, that

And then they want the person to change. If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

The two worst strategic mistakes to make are acting prematurely and letting an opportunity slip; to avoid this, the warrior treats each situation as if it were unique and never resorts to formulae, recipes or other people's opinions.

a man is also a woman; he wants to find someone, to give meaning to his life.

An intense life needs a touch of madness.

Like the children we will never ever cease to be.

The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far...

You can't want to be happy, because that's too easy and too boring.

If you don't want to believe me, you don't have to do anything about it.

Even you, the person asking the question. 'I'm useless' is the answer you give yourself. Soon that answer will poison you and you will die while still alive, even though you still walk, eat, sleep and try to have a little fun whenever possible. Don't try to be useful. Try to be yourself: that is enough, and that makes all the difference.

that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.

When you want something with all your heart, that's when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It's always a positive force.

suddenly, for no reason, I get into the shower and burst into tears. I can cry there because no one can hear my sobs or ask me the question I hate most: "Are you all right?" Yes, why shouldn't I be? Is there anything wrong with my life? No, nothing. Only the nights that fill me with dread. The days I can't get excited about. The happy images from the past and the things that could have been but weren't. The desire for adventure never fulfilled.

Life is falling down 7 times and getting up 8.

God was there, and yet people believed they still had to go on looking, because it seemed too simple to accept that life was an act of faith.

people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.

In the same way, there is no explanation of life. But there is a reason we are here, and you must be humble enough to accept that. Trust what I say; the life of each human being has a meaning, although he commits the error of spending the greater part of his time on earth seeking an answer, and meanwhile forgets to live.

Disappointment,Defeat,Despair are the tools God uses to show us our way... (Paulo Coelho)

There are four obstacles. The first: he has heard, right from childhood, that everything he wishes to live is impossible. He grows up with this idea, and as he acquires age, he also accumulates layers of prejudices, fears, guilt. There comes a time when his Personal Legend is so deeply buried within his soul, he can no longer see it. But it is still there.

When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice it is small, but we do not criticize it as "rootless and stemless." We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed.

That's because like everyone else on the planet, you believed that time would teach you to grow closer to God. But time doesn't teach; it merely brings us a sense of weariness and of growing older.