The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

couldn’t have found God in the seminary,

It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting,

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.

It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.

Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

It’s this: 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.”

you have succeeded in discovering your Personal Legend.”

The Soul of the World is nourished by people’s happiness.

“Treasure is uncovered by the force of flowing water,

“If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it.”

he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have.

when each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.

‘The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.’”

he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure.

sense whether a person was near to or far from his Personal Legend. Just by looking at them. It’s easy, and yet I’ve never done it before, he thought.

every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

Sometimes, there’s just no way to hold back the river.

It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired. Tangier

Yet the boy felt that there was another way to regard his situation:

He suddenly felt tremendously happy. He could always go back to being a shepherd. He could always become a crystal salesman again.

making a decision was only the beginning of things.

It was shepherds who were the first to recognize a king that the rest of the world refused to acknowledge. So, it’s not surprising that kings would talk to shepherds.”

We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”

Soul of the World.

If I have to fight, it will be just as good a day to die as any other.

Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.

life is the moment we’re living right now.”

Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees,

“Why a revolver?” he asked. “It helped me to trust in people,” the Englishman answered.

It’s a war between forces that are fighting for the balance of power, and, when that type of battle begins,

it lasts longer than others—because Allah is on both sides.”

“I’m a desert woman, and I’m proud of that. I want my husband to wander as free as the wind that shapes the dunes. And, if I have to, I will accept the fact that he has become a part of the clouds, and the animals, and the water of the desert.”

He sat on a stone, and allowed himself to become hypnotized by the horizon.

When you are in love, things make even more sense, he thought.

“If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise,” said the seer. “If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.”

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.

he was about to die in pursuit of his Personal Legend.

“You must love the desert, but never trust it completely.

“It’s not what enters men’s mouths that’s evil,” said the alchemist. “It’s what comes out of their mouths that is.”

“Life attracts life,”

You’ll spend the rest of your days knowing that you didn’t pursue your Personal Legend, and that now it’s too late. “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love . . . the love that speaks the Language of the World.”

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”

So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.”

From that day on, it was the desert that would be important.

“There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered. “It’s through action.

“They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.”

The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom.

in earlier times, his heart had always been ready to tell its story, but lately that wasn’t true.

But his heart was never quiet,

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