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Kindle Notes & Highlights
The story of one person is the story of everyone, and one man’s quest is the quest of all of humanity, which is why I believe The Alchemist continues all these years later to resonate with people from different cultures all around the world, touching them emotionally and spiritually, equally, without prejudice.
Author’s foreword
I am reminded that it is within our power to build a bridge to be crossed. Even if my neighbor doesn’t understand my religion or understand my politics, he can understand my story. If he can understand my story, then he’s never too far from me. It is always within my power to build a bridge. There is always a chance for reconciliation, a chance that one day he and I will sit around a table together and put an end to our history of clashes.
Author’s foreword
His purpose in life was to travel,
But ever since he had been a child, he had wanted to know the world, and this was much more important to him than knowing God and learning about man’s sins.
The problem is that they don’t even realize that they’re walking a new road every day. They don’t see that the fields are new and the seasons change. All they think about is food and water.
Similar to everyday human life, I believe.
It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting,
“And 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.
language of the world,”
In "The Alchemist," the Language of the World refers to a universal form of communication that transcends spoken language, expressed through intuition, omens, and shared human experiences. It emphasizes the connection between all beings and the importance of following one's personal legend.
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.”
“It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. “At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.”
A Personal Legend in "The Alchemist" refers to an individual's true purpose or destiny in life, representing what they have always wanted to accomplish. The pursuit of one's Personal Legend is seen as essential for achieving fulfillment and happiness.
there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth.”
“If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it.”
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.’”
“I’m like everyone else—I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.”
If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world.
that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. 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.
When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.
intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there.
people need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want.
“That’s the principle that governs all things,” he said. “In alchemy, it’s called the Soul of the World. When you want something with all your heart, that’s when you are closest to the Soul of the World.
The Soul of the World in "The Alchemist" represents a spiritual force that connects all living things and governs the universe. It embodies the idea that everything is interconnected, and when one desires something with all their heart, they align with this universal energy
he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke—the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love.
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.
“It’s not what enters men’s mouths that’s evil,” said the alchemist. “It’s what comes out of their mouths that is.”
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. That’s what I mean by action.”
“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?” “Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.”
“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.”
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”
Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.
“When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”
“Your eyes show the strength of your soul,”
because they understood that when something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well.
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
“When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening, because everything happens within you,
when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
Because only the hand understood that it was a larger design that had moved the universe to the point at which six days of creation had evolved into a Master Work.
“No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.”
